Naruto: Just You Wait
by TurboAce
Summary: What if the Nine Tails attack on Konoha happened three years later a time when Naruto and co. were around three years old instead as newborns. How will the delay affect the timeline. How will the smallest change reflect on the future? Review and Comment :) Looking for a Beta!
1. Ch1: Emergence of Talents

Emergence of Talents

* * *

 **Naruto age 12** (Konoha's resident blonde gaki was elated that he, in all his twelve-year-old glory, would _finally_ become a ninja. He'd been waiting so, so long to be a shinobi just like his parents.)

It was graduation day and that meant that the students would become full-fledged ninjas, and all of the responsibilities and expectations that came along with it.

The current class was possibly the most talented class in last 20 years, including seven clan children (five of which were first in line heirs), the son of the late Fourth Hokage, a girl full of potential with intelligence to match-yes, a new generation.

Naruto Namikaze, the son of the late Fourth Hokage and the sole Uzumaki survivor, was in class and extremely bored as his teacher, Iruka, went on about how this was the most important day of their lives.

"Today is examination day and, for most, the hardest test you will have taken up to this point. This is your first step to becoming a ninja." Iruka recited his speech even though he saw boredom and other various reactions throughout the classroom, such as Naruto looking completely disinterested.

The rest of the class was faring no better, as Sasuke seemed impatient, told by the repeated tapping of his foot, Shikamaru and Kiba were both fast asleep in the back, Chouji was muching distractedly on some snacks, and Ino was absently fiddling with her hair, subconsciously trying to smooth it out. Shino, Hinata, and Sakura seemed to be the only ones paying attention, although it was hard to tell with Shino, as his shades and high-collared jacket hid most of his face.

After Iruka's speech he then started to pass out papers as graduation included the final exam: the students' last roadblock in becoming Genin. The final exam was comprised of three tests: a written exam to test general knowledge, as ninja needed at least basic intelligence, a practical test to evaluate shuriken and kunai usage and basic taijutsu, and, last but not least, a ninjutsu evaluation that went over substitution, transformation, and clone jutsus.

As Naruto received his test he grew really nervous, as he was not the best at written exams, as he tended to lean on the physical side of being a ninja. His hand started to shake as he grabbed his pencil and he closed his eyes, breathing in and out slowly to calm himself. It was one of the few things his mother had been able to teach him before she passed away.

Scanning his test, he realized there were only five questions, which came as a huge relief.

The first question was simple enough, as it just wanted him to list the twelve basic hand seals. _Bird, Boar, Dog, Dragon, Ox, Tiger, Snake, Rat, Horse, Monkey, Hare, Ram,_ he thought as he scribbled them down, his chicken scratch just barely legible. The second question prompted him to list and explain his knowledge of the three basic types of jutsu, ninjutsu, genjutsu, and taijutsu, which was easy enough. After that, he easily recalled the five basic elements of ninjutsu.

The fourth question highly amused him, considering it asked for the listing of all Konoha's Hokages. He knew three out of four of them, and the Fourth was his father, so he didn't have any trouble there.

The final question asked for the Five Great Shinobi Villages, which he quickly wrote down. Konohagakure, Sunagakure, Iwagakure, Kirigakure, and Kumogakure.

As Naruto set down his pencil he saw a few more students finishing up their tests, based upon Iruka getting up from his desk he could tell that the written test was almost over, as the last person finished their test Iruka stood in front of the class

* * *

Academy Training Grounds

"Alright, now let's go outside to the kunai range for the physical test," Iruka announced as he ushered everyone outside.

Outside the academy were the training grounds, they were separated into three sections, with the fourth being the entrance, on one side was a simple open field where students usually did their taijutsu practices, on the other was the kunai range

The kunai range was nothing special-just five targets lined up with some chalk on the ground to mark throwing distance. It had little tables next to the chalk with neat rows of kunai and shuriken.

"Alright! You may pick to throw shuriken or kunai. It's up to your preference and you can use up to five. Now lineup in alphabetical order. The first five go first," Mizuki, Iruka's assistant instructor, announced once the children and filed out.

After most of the students it was only three students left as there wasn't a good amount of students to make a multiple of five. The only remaining students were Naruto Namikaze, Sasuke Uchiha and Ino Yamanaka as the all had late last names. Ino picked up her kunai in confidence as she started to fire them off one by one, the target had multiple lines but the middle circle was the goal which gives 10 points, Ino hit the first four on in the middle but didn't give herself enough room on the fifth in the middle so it bounced off leaving her with a 40, as she walked off she said to the remaining boys

"The show's all your boys" said Ino as she skipped back to the rest of the students

Naruto and Sasuke were rivals, they pushed each other at a lot of things from fighting to racing and the test was not excused from the rivalry, Sasuke was clearly the best boy in the class but Naruto always gives him a run for his money. In this challenge was a simple one instead of simply facing the target they would have spin before launching all five of their weapons at once, Sasuke chose kunai while Naruto chose shuriken. They spun 10 times to make them dizzy then counted to three.

"1" said Sasuke as he raised his kunai in preparationn

"2" said Naruto as he was regaining composure

"3!" they both said as the launched the weapons

"50 for both Naruto and Sasuke, alright next test let's go back inside "said Iruka as he wrote the score down and led the class back inside

The rest of the test was boring as the class had to one by one sit through each students jutsus, and it unexpectedly took longer that Iruka told the kids who already passed and received their headbands to start heading home and celebrate with their families and for those who didn't to try harder next year. Eventually it got to Naruto and was nervous but scared, he performed the transformation jutsu perfectly, the substitution perfect but the clone was only good as he only made to two clones but with that combined with his other test scores he passed.

"Congratulations Naruto" said Iruka as he handed him a headband

"Thanks sensei!" said Naruto as he stared at his headband all the way out the academy, until he bumped into something

"Come on Naruto I know you're happy but watch where you're going" said a girl

"Sorry Ama I wasn't watching where I was going" said Naruto

Ama was a nine-year-old girl with red hair with violet like eyes, she was the current jinchuuriki of the Nine tail fox but she didn't know that. Only the village higher ups and a select few like Naruto knew she was a jinchuriki. She is also Naruto's sister which she is also unaware of. The Hokage and the council decided that protecting Ama's identity as the jinchuuriki and daughter of the fourth hokage was needed by separating her from her brother as they don't want others to know who is the jinchuriki and the addition of being the Fourth's daughter will have even more enemies after her than Naruto since girls are more valuable to outsiders. This also adds the possibility of her having a normal life as she would grow up seemingly as a civilian with the last name Uzumaki because of the red hair.

"It's okay I understand you're happy" said Ama

"I'm so happy that I'm even going to offer Ramen for the both of us!" said Naruto as he exclaimed

"Yay!"

* * *

At Ichiraku

As Naruto and Ama were eating at Ichiraku, gulfing down their ramen, Ama keeps asking Naruto questions about the test but Naruto keeps waving them off or giving her a brief answer which just infuriates her.

"Come on Naruto, why can't you tell me about the written test, I'm not even asking about the clone jutsu this time." whined Ama

"Because it will give you an unfair advantage than the other kids" said Naruto as he got his third bowl of ramen

"But I'm already at a disadvantage, the teachers won't help me, please bro" said Ama as she knows whenever she calls him brother he has a soft spot for her unaware of her situation in Naruto's perspective

"Another time Ama, besides you got about three years before you should be concerned about the test" responded Naruto softly

"I know but I want to just shut this kid Konohamaru up, he's so loud and cocky, it's so annoying, and since he's a boy and I'm a girl I won't get a chance to beat him up in the taijutsu spars and-"

"I get it but you're going to have to fight through it" said Naruto as he remembers how Sakura used to be

"Alright but promise me that when I do become a genin, and I will, that you will help train me alright bro" said Ama as she held her pinkie finger out

"Fine I promise sis" conceded Naruto as he wrapped his pinkie finger around hers

* * *

Academy

All the graduates were in their former classroom waiting on Iruka to give out their teams, a lot of the kids were just talking about what teammates they would like how they would want their sensei to be like.

"Alright genin I have the team assignments and I'm announcing them" said Iruka as he read off the teams "Team 1…"

"N-Naruto-kun?" said Hinata trying to get his attention

"Yeah Hinata what's up?" said Naruto as he stopped listening to Kiba's wild prediction on how hot his sensei will be

"Do you know the teams? I mean I know the third Hokage tells you a lot so…" asked Hinata

"Sorry Hinata I don't Grandpa made it really hard for me to find out, I guess he really wants this to be a surprise"

"Team 7!" said Iruka louder to get more attention "Sasuke Uchiha, Hinata Hyuga and Shino Aburame, your sensei is Kakashi Hatake"

"Team 8, Sakura Haruno, Kiba Inuzuka and Choji Akimichi your sensei is Kurenai Yuuhi"

"Team 9 is still in rotation, next is Team 10 which consists of Naruto Namikaze, Ino Yamanaka, and Shikamaru Nara and your sensei is Asuma Sarutobi.

"Team 11…"

"Well it looks like we're not on the same team Hinata, and now you're with Sasuke, I wish you luck" said Naruto

"Yeah...well Sasuke isn't that bad right?" asked Hinata

"Well he's stubborn and hot headed, with a superiority complex-"

"I heard that!" said Sasuke as he turned around in his seat to confront Naruto

"Good now don't give Hinata and Shino a hard time, there nice unlike you!" responded Naruto

As they were going back and forth a lot of the other teams' sensei's were picking up their teams until there were only nine students left

"Alright Team 8 I'm your sensei come with me" said the woman presumably Kurenai

"Woo! I told y'all that my sensei would be hot" Kiba said as he raced out of the classroom after his sensei

"Wish me luck Shikamaru" said Choji towards Shikamaru his best friend

"Trust me I do" responded Shikamaru as he truly felt sorry for his best friend as he was stuck with arguably the loudest kid in the classroom

As Kiba Choji and Sakura left Team 10's sensei came in "Naruto, Ino, and Shikamaru come with me" said the man which can be presumed to be Asuma

"Well Sasuke behave or Hinata will have to make you" taunted Naruto as he made his way out with Ino and Shikamaru

* * *

Training ground 10

"Well I can assume you all know each other already so feel free to ask any question for me" said Asuma as he lit a cigarette

"Give us a brief description of yourself" said Ino

"Well my name is Asuma Sarutobi, my hobby is playing shogi, and my favorite food is soba"

"My question is why am I on this team?" asked Naruto which gained the attention from everyone

"What do you mean?" asked Asuma

"This was actually my question too" said Shikamaru "Why is Choji not on this squad to keep the Ino-Shika-Cho tradition up"

"Well first it's not really a tradition it just managed to be a coincidence for a while, you see it used to be the most intelligent student usually a Yamanaka, with the 2nd or 3rd strongest student usually a Akimichi and the laziest student usually a Nara. But Choji was actually the 4th strongest and Naruto was the 2nd or 3rd strongest in your class, Ino was you most intelligent based on the written test results and Shikamaru was easily the laziest student. They did this so that the brain and brawn of the team could motivate the laziest of the team." answered Asuma

"Oh well I guess that makes sense" said Ino

"Yeah well anyways it's time for the test to see if you should really be genin, and before you asked this is happening with the other teams as well, it's too see if the academy test was a fluke or not, and to see if I personally feel if you're ready." said Asuma as he stood up from his spot still smoking his cigarette "This test has a 33% pass rate meaning of the 27 genin who passed only about nine will pass"

"Alright what's the test?" asked Shikamaru as he and the other two stood up as well

"Simple the goal is to trap me in anyway necessary, attack me seriously or you won't stand a chance, if the trap is to weak I will break out of it, so the trap has to be a good one." said Asuma as the wind blew and leaves started flowing in the wind, Asuma grabbed one out of the air "The test begins when this leaf hits the ground"

The leaf hits the ground and Asuma seemingly vanished

"Body Flicker! he also wants us to find him to" said Naruto recognizing the technique

"Good this gives us time, he never gave us a time limit, so we have time to plan" said Shikamaru "We need to go over what we are good at and what techniques we can use"

"All I have is the mind body transfer jutsu" said Ino

"That will be the main way we trap him sense if he can break out of a lot of things means that we need to attack more than just his body" said Shikamaru "I have the Shadow paralysis and shadow imitation but based on the time of day I won't have that much longer to use them effectively"

They all looked at the sun as it was already sunset meaning it will be night soon and Shikamaru's shadows will be almost useless

"What about you Naruto outside of the academy jutsus we never see you use any jutsu" asked Ino

"Well most of my jutsus are offensive, but the ones that can be used here are my chains." Naruto said as he simultaneously grew chakra chains out of his hands

"How far can they go?" asked Shikamaru interrupting Naruto

"As much as my chakra can allow, but there still chains so they don't just bend at will like your shadows" said Naruto

"Right what else sorry for stopping you"

"It's fine, I also have some elemental jutsu my favorite is my wind style: blow away jutsu"

"Blow away?" questioned Ino

"Yeah!" Naruto said as he crossed his finger and formed a shadow clone which raised the eyebrow of both Shikamaru and Ino, Naruto placed his hand on the clones' chest and released his jutsu

"Blow away!"

Naruto's hand erupted with a powerful wind, blowing his clone forcibly back even off its feet, then it disappeared as hit the tree behind it

'The wind itself did not damage but it pushed his clone back so hard that I even felt it' analyzed Shikamaru

"Alright Chains, Wind and the clone jutsu, we can make a plan with those" said Ino enthusiastically

"Oh and I also have that jutsu that I haven't used in a while" Naruto said cryptically to the two who immediately understood

In the trees behind them Asuma was lurking curious what was taking them so long, until he remembered he didn't give them a time limit, but it doesn't matter this allows him to see how their teamwork and planning skills are until a large barrage of kunai and shuriken were hauled his way

Asuma jumped out of the trees and back into the open

"Good you found me now I hope you found a plan yet"

Before he knew it Naruto and Ino blitzed him in close range combat, Ino went for a low sweep kick, which made Asuma simply jump back a little out of the kicks range, Ino followed up still in the spinning motion with some kunai throwing which made Asuma move to his right, Naruto followed up going for a chest blow with his right fist, Asuma planned to simple block it but almost as soon as his made contact his hand opened up

"Wind Style blow away!"

Asuma felt the powerful wind pushing him back even when using chakra on his feet, the wind kept going Asuma knew it would be awhile before Naruto stops with the wind so he spits out his cigarette and proceeded to use his own wind style

"Wind style great breakthrough"

The winds clashed against each other fighting for dominance, but it was clear Asuma was winning

'Naruto's holding his own he must be a wind nature' thought Asuma

He felt something creeping behind him, only to glance back to see a shadow approaching his own, he quickly flickered away to avoid the shadow, only to find Ino ready to engage in taijutsu again

Ino went for a roundhouse kick which was easily grabbed by Asuma and thrown towards Shikamaru direction, as this was happening Naruto went in for an opening while Asuma back was turned but was dodged by Asuma, Naruto overthrew his punch and resulting to somersault back into a better position, Asuma not the passive type went in for the opening but before he knew it he felt a kick in the back

'Damn… he learned it' thought Asuma 'When did he mark me?'

Meanwhile Ino and Shikamaru were also amazed by the jutsu even though they have saw it before although that was years ago

"Flying thunder god jutsu" started to explained Naruto "A space and time jutsu where it instantly teleports the user to formula where it lies on, it's the jutsu that made my dad the famous yellow flash"

As he was explaining he was landing small blows on Asuma who was trying to figure out the pattern, this was obviously the first time Asuma experience the jutsu but based on his studies and talks from Kakashi that if you can predict where the user is going to be than you can beat but it's about being at least three steps ahead of them

'Step one make a feint to have them go to the best spot for them to either escape or attack perfectly' Asuma was thinking through the process he has heard over the years

Asuma saw Naruto in his stance a went for a punch but Naruto teleported

'Step two go for the most obvious opening after the feint'

Naruto teleported behind Asuma with an intention to attack around the legs but Asuma did a no look kick behind him which almost got Naruto but he teleported

'Step three after forcing him to the best attack direction now go for any spot that is within the user's field of vision otherwise you're screwed'

Naruto teleported to Asuma's left with the thought that most people are right dominated his left will be weaker but was surprised when he felt a fist in his gut

"Nice try but you telegraphed your moves too much" said Asuma as he watched Naruto kneel over 'Maybe too much force on that one'

"How?!" coughed Naruto

"You went for the best place to attack which shows how good of a fighter you are but it makes it predictable, and once I almost caught you, you panicked and went for what you could quickly see which was my left thinking I was right sided but I'm ambidextrous" explained Asuma

"Damn just like the third" commented Naruto but soon received a kick to his stomach that launched him back to his teammates

"Well plan A didn't work" commented Shikamaru

"Plan B then?" Ino said also asked Naruto as she helped Naruto up

"Yeah I thought I could surprise him with that but let's go your way" said Naruto upset he couldn't surprise Asuma

"Alright go!" said Ino

Naruto made 6 clones making seven Naruto's and they approached Asuma, until a shadow from one of the clones extended towards Asuma forcing him to jump back

'He's using the clones shadow to extend his range to catch me' thought Asuma impressed

Asuma felt something behind him and luckily dodged in time as Ino made it behind him and started throwing kunai, seeing as he was pinned he fled into the forest which the genin followed him into, they managed to pin him against a tree with the Naruto's surrounding him from all angles. Shikamaru came out from behind the tree Asuma was pinned to and revealed that he had Asuma in his shadow

"You used the shadow of the tree to get me but this will wear off soon" said Asuma as looked at the sun and saw it was nearly set

Suddenly he clones dispelled and Asuma felt out of control of his body and before he knew it as he regained control he was tied with ninja wire to the tree from shoulder to toe, he also noticed that a kunai was to his neck and Ino and Naruto were in front of him with kunai and shuriken ready as well as more sunlight than before

Asuma tried to recall to happen and he thinks he has a good guess

"You used Naruto's clones smoke to cover up Ino's mind transfer which left me unable for a few seconds but that was enough time for one of you to tie me up and you used Naruto's wind to make an opening in the trees for more sunlight to keep your shadow paralysis up longer" said Asuma

"Yeah the only way to actually trap you is if you were in a life-or death situation so with this kunai I could have killed you otherwise Naruto and Ino would be right here ready for an escape" said Shikamaru "I kept the shadow paralysis for insurance"

"I still have the mark on you so I can keep chasing you if you try to escape" added Naruto

"And I could have held you for a longer time with my jutsu, which would have guaranteed a capture, so did we pass sensei?" said Ino

"Yeah you pass" said Asuma "*sigh* give me a cigarette"

* * *

Note this isn't a Naruto 'god' fic but he just has techniques that still need polishing

Again thanks to breakeven2007 for being my beta for this chapter!


	2. Ch2: Trial

Training

* * *

"Look as your sensei it's my job to teach you so you can let me know if there's something to learn or something you need to improve on" said Asuma "We got luck seeing as you all already know how to walk on trees and water so we can skip that part, but as genin it's important to improve all aspects then focus on specialization once you reach chunin, you all have skills but I need to make sure you can survive on your own if I have to leave you all on mission whether there is an emergency or I simply trust you to be on your own for a while so today let's work on taijutsu I need to see how good each of you are in taijutsu"

"This is boring, Naruto's already way better than us at taijutsu we don't stand a chance" said Shikamaru as he groaned loudly at the thought of facing Naruto in just taijutsu

"Fine Ino you go against Naruto, first don't go all out I just want you to spar" said Asuma as he took his seat next to Shikamaru

They both did the seal of confrontation then Ino took her stance across from Naruto, she was nervous besides Sasuke there was no one better in her class in taijutsu than Naruto, even Hinata admitted Naruto's better than her and she kicks all the girls butts

Naruto went first, he went for a simple right jab, Ino saw this and side stepped it and went for her own punch with her right towards Naruto's left but Naruto simply moved her fist out the way with his hand which caused her to lean over slightly which was enough for him to knee her in the stomach

Ino was surprised by the straightforwardness of his moves, since Naruto is way more dangerous whenever she sees him against Sasuke even Kiba he tries harder than this but she can't complain she wasn't the best in taijutsu

"You okay Ino?" asked Naruto as he held his hand out for her

Ino took his hand but she grabbed him towards her, as he was leaning over, she bent her knees so her feet were lined up with his torso and kicked him up slightly off the ground, and with a quick movement she spun back into a dropkick position preparing to slam him into the ground

"Don't you dare go easy on me Naruto!" yelled Ino

Naruto manage to roll out the way scared at the aggressiveness of Ino as he and her regained their stances

On the side Shikamaru is just shaking his head "I forget how loud and angry Ino can be sometimes" said Shikamaru in disbelief that Ino got angry that Naruto was being nice

Meanwhile Asuma is analyzing the fight Ino was under scouted on the report he believed, when it first started it seemed accurate but now when she's riled up she actually got stronger, faster and way more precise in her moves. And with Naruto it's hard to believe he was only second best in taijutsu, he looks so much in control that people would easily mistake him for a chunin in taijutsu alone, but he does look awkward in some points but Asuma summed that up to his reliance on ninjutsu so much when he fights, as he pauses to remember its taijutsu only, but Naruto was too quick for Ino, you have to catch him off guard even still he has exceptional reflexes which is probably off the use of the flying Raijin

"If you're wondering why Naruto is only the second best in taijutsu, don't" said Shikamaru "Sasuke cheats he uses his sharingan almost every time he goes against Naruto and the few times he didn't he did lose"

"I see, doesn't matter the sharingan is a powerful jutsu so if Naruto wants to beat him he will have to learn to beat it" said Asuma

"But Naruto doesn't care that he is considered second best" said Shikamaru

Ino hits the ground again frustrated that she couldn't a good hit on Naruto since she got angry, Naruto puts two fingers out signing the seal of reconciliation, which just makes Ino smile and form the seal

"You know we're not in the academy anymore we don't have to do the seal of confrontation and reconciliation anymore" said Ino as she accepts Naruto hand to get off the ground

"I know but it just reassures me that no hard feelings are being involved" said Naruto

"Good job next Ino spar with Shikamaru, Naruto take a seat"

As Ino and Shikamaru sparred Naruto took a seat next to Asuma watching the two spar

"Naruto what's your goal?" asked Asuma

"What do you mean?" questioned Naruto

"Well I didn't go over this the day you were assigned to me since I feel like someone's dreams are their business but Shikamaru said something that intrigued me" said Asuma "He said you don't desire to be the best what do you desire?"

"Well he probably misinterpreted that, it's not like I don't desire being better than Sasuke, you, the third Hokage and even my dad" said Naruto "but I don't want to be Hokage at least not in title"

"Why not? You seemed groomed to be a good candidate once you're older" commented Asuma

"I want to protect the village, and that means me being in the field not in an office listening to an old lady complained about her cat" said Naruto

They both took a second to forget about that demon cat

"I don't mind being a leader but I don't want to be the leader, I don't have what it takes to make the tough calls, like sacrificing yourself by sealing a tailed beast into an orphaned girl I don't have the backbone for that" said Naruto "Besides Ama wants to be Hokage so I'll look after her"

As he finished talking Ino went for the finishing move a leg sweep to knock Shikamaru off his feet, and she used her momentum to do a quick hand stand to raise her leg high enough to slam Shikamaru to the ground

"Damn Ino" said Naruto as he watched Ino beat Shikamaru and Shikamaru just lay there

"What! He had it coming" said Ino as she walked away from a still down Shikamaru

"What Shika say?"

"How he was upset about fighting a girl"

"For being so smart he says some stupid things"

"You got that right" said Ino as she sat down next to Naruto

"Well seeing as how Shika is going to be out for a while is there anything you both want to work on while we are still here" said Asuma who went to check on Shikamaru but saw he was knocked out

"I've been thinking of either of improving the mind disturbance jutsu it will allow me to more openly participate in combat as it doesn't leave me useless like with the mind transfer jutsu" said Ino

"What does it do?" asked Naruto

"It's kind of like a genjutsu but it uses my clans mind technique, it but this one unlike me gaining control of mind and body this one is just body which is why I won't be useless, I can almost control them like a puppet" explained Ino

"Cool, but scary you can like turn teammates against each other" said Naruto

"Yeah but it doesn't last long" said Ino "Although I wouldn't mind learning the transmission jutsu"

"Ah yeah very useful jutsu for teamwork and secrecy also a fine choice" said Asuma "You can attempt the transmission jutsu with us and use the disturbance jutsu with your clan it could be dangerous if that one gets out of hand"

"Alright!' said Ino seeing Naruto's confusion "the mind transmission basically is telepathy with whoever I connect with allowing to share thoughts with me as the medium"

"Cool so like back in the academy you could have helped me on one of those test by thinking your answers to me" said Naruto amazed by the skill

"Yeah but I wouldn't have helped you anyway"

"What! Why?"

"Because you don't do well on your tests because you don't study not because you're stupid"

"Well I'm sorry I'm focusing on actual techniques than on why the fire daimyo is so rich"

"Don't you want money"

"Yeah but not to point where I'm stupidly rich and can rule a nation on money alone and have no other skills"

"Alright relax now Naruto what techniques do you want to work on?" asked Asuma

"I've been working on different elements I want to master the basics of them before I go onto anything complicated" said Naruto

"What have you learned so far?"

Naruto proceeded to lay down go through some hand signs and slammed his hand onto the ground and watch the ground and rocks surround his hand up to the wrist

"I think I'm good on the rock fist jutsu but I want to learn the headhunter jutsu" said Naruto

Naruto also showed his right hand to show electricity sparkle in his hand briefly, he also spits a small water stream but it wasn't affecting anything around it

"My thunder palm needs work as I can't hold it long and my water gun isn't powerful enough, and I cannot learn fire it's really hard for me for some reason" said Naruto

"Wow why are you working on all these jutsus Naruto?" asked Ino

"When I used train with my parents and they used to show all these cool elemental jutsu, my dad had lightning and wind and my mom had water fire and earth and ever since then I wanted to learn all their main techniques, which also why I know how to my Dad's jutsu and my mom's chains there's some more I have to learn I was told I would learn those later so for now I figure I would learn the elemental to help support me" said Naruto

"But didn't you tell me you wanted to be different from your parents" said Shikamaru now conscious

"Yeah but doesn't mean I can't continue their legacy, I just don't want to be just Yellow Flash 2.0 or known as the fourth Hokage's son I want to have my own legend my own story" said Naruto "I wear orange to symbolize both my mom and my dad whose colors were red and yellow but it's still a different color"

"Yeah but that means you would have to create your own technique like those two" added Asuma

"Yeah I'm working on that I didn't know it would be this hard" said Naruto

"Well I can work on your fire and wind you're going to have to find other people to help you on those other elements" said Asuma

"That's fine if I can just make a small fire I can be content. I'm not looking to master them like the third Hokage I just want to cover all basis" said Naruto

"Well speaking of elements do you two know your elements?" asked Asuma to Ino and Shikamaru

"No" they both answered

Asuma pulled out three pieces of paper and gave two to the two genin, he kept one for themselves

"These are chakra paper from a special tree, they once put chakra will tell you your affinity for which element" said Asuma as he demonstrated

Asuma's chakra split in two and one of the splits burned

"My primary affinity is wind and secondary is fire, Naruto I assume you know what yours are" said Asuma

"Yeah my primary's wind too but my secondary is water" said Naruto as he watched his teammates chakra papers

Ino's got damp

"You have a primary affinity for water"

Shikamaru's burned

"And you have an affinity for fire"

"Now we will work on your two's elements later I'm only helping Naruto since he already started, the elements are usually a chunin level training method" said Asuma

Shikamaru practiced his shadow possession jutsu as he needs to increase the effectiveness and range of it he's practicing against one of Naruto's shadow clones who in turn was practicing his evasiveness, agility and reflexes

Ino was practicing her mind telepathy against Asuma who was used to how it felt since he has gone on missions with her father Inoichi multiple times and was used to it

Naruto was simply doing the leaf exercise where he tries to make the leaf burn

* * *

Around an hour later

Four figures came into team 10s training ground, one was pushing their fingers together, one was putting his hands in their jacket pockets, another was holding the back of their head and the one in front was walking with confidence

It was team 7

"Hey Kakashi what are you doing I thought you would be training your team before mission start coming up" said Asuma as he approached them

"I was but it turns out Shino and Hinata don't stand much of a chance against Sasuke in sparring and I don't want to spar with him as I don't think it would benefit him much so he demanded he fight your student" said Kakashi as he pointed to the blond hair boy sitting down

"Naruto? But he's training can't it wait" said Asuma

"Afraid not he won't train in anything else until he gets a good fight" said Kakashi

"Let's see, Naruto come here!" yelled Asuma to his student

"What's up Asuma-sensei why is team 7 here?" asked Naruto "Hey Hinata, hey Shino, hey Sasuke"

"Hi Naruto"

"Hello"

"I challenge your idiot" said Sasuke

Naruto could only raise an eyebrow in confusion as he turned to his sensei for confirmation, who could only nod his head in confirmation

"Can I sensei?"

"If only you want, it would be interesting to see you going all out against someone around the same level" said Asuma

"Alright! You're on Sasuke" said Naruto with some excitement in his voice

"Alright we can use taijutsu, ninjutsu and weapons no genjutsu first to surrender-"

"Or until me or Asuma calls it" added Kakashi

"Or until they call the match over" said Sasuke

"Fine by me"

Naruto and Sasuke faced each other in an empty part of the training ground, their teammates were sitting on the side away from the fight ready to watch, the two genin did the seal of confrontation to Naruto's request and proceeded

Naruto and Sasuke first charged each other, Sasuke went for a right punch but Naruto did a high front flip to dodge, in midair he took out some kunai and aimed them at Sasuke who turned around and got his own kunai to block them and used the one he used to block to aim at Naruto who slightly twisted to kick the kunai away

As Naruto landed Sasuke got in close for a roundhouse kick, but Naruto quickly bent backwards avoid it, he used his hands as support and proceed to kick Sasuke up a little, Naruto followed up with him bending back and used his jutsu

"Blow Away!" yelled Naruto as he got his hands around Sasuke torso and proceeded to use his wind style to blow him back

The wind was enough to slam Sasuke into a tree and create a small smokescreen

"Sasuke's about get serious" commented Shino

"Maybe but Naruto hasn't gone all out either" said Ino defending her teammate

A fireball set out of the smoke towards Naruto who was engulfed in the flames, Sasuke not believing that Naruto went down that easy charged in the direction in which he blew in, he scanned the area and found Naruto's location, he blew another fireball into the trees northeast of him and again no response

Sasuke was suddenly kicked from the back but he predicted that and prepared for the counter, he grabbed the next fist that Naruto was about to land on his face, this revealed that Sasuke had activated his two tomoe sharingan, Sasuke went for his own punch but Naruto grabbed that similar to Sasuke, they were in a deadlock

Until Naruto lost his balance and started to fall back, but as Sasuke was leaning over, Naruto bent his knees so his feet were lined up with Sasuke's torso and kicked him up slightly off the ground, and with a quick movement Naruto rolled back into a dropkick position preparing to slam him into the ground

"That looks familiar" commented Ino as she squinted her eyes to see the movements clearer

"It should it the same move you used on him when you were sparring" said Shikamaru analyzing the battle 'This might be my only real chance to examine Naruto's battle style, since after this will be missions'

"Yeah it's similar, it seems that move you did make a little impression on him" added Asuma 'It's similar but he modified it to adjust for the situation'

"Naruto-kun is always viewing others people's moves and mimicking them" commented Hinata quietly but Ino heard her

"What do you mean Hinata?" asked Ino

"Um that wind jutsu he used to be inspired by my clan's jutsu, but my clan's jutsu does damage and is more condensed, he got the idea after seeing my cousin do it" said Hinata

Sasuke however reacted quickly and blocked the kick with both his hands, he then gripped the foot and used his strength to knock Naruto over, Sasuke took this opportunity to gain some distance to catch his breath since that move Naruto did surprise him almost lost his breath when he hit the ground

Naruto didn't let up this time this time he went faster and went after Sasuke for another engagement in taijutsu. Naruto went for a clockwise kick but Sasuke jumped up and proceeded to do three rapid step kick but Naruto blocked them as Sasuke got to the other side he went for his own kick but was blocked by Naruto's forearm, he used the same forearm to push the leg back to cause Sasuke to turn a little which allowed an opening to his back which Naruto took as an opening, but Sasuke backflip over the kick and did his own kick to launch Naruto back

Naruto took out two kunai in both hands and charged Sasuke again, Sasuke took his own kunai out to combat him, the kunai clashed against each other repeatedly neither one was giving an inch, Sasuke did one swipe to hard and Naruto dodged it and replied with a punch to knock Sasuke a good distance away

Sasuke not seeing an opening decided to go back to ninjutsu

"Fire style: Phoenix flower jutsu!" said Sasuke as multiple small fireballs in many angles headed towards Naruto

"Earth style rock fist" said Naruto as he did the jutsu on both fists and started punching the incoming fire out of the air

Sasuke did another fireball his biggest yet and aimed it at Naruto, Naruto not seeing a clear escape route decided to jump over it he barely made over it but Sasuke analyzing Naruto's body language knew he was going to jump and met him in midair and did a rotating spin kick to knock Naruto to the ground, Naruto tried blocking it with his arms but it was too much force behind the kick

As Kakashi called the match a figure appeared in front of Naruto it was Asuma

"The match is over" said Asuma as he held a hand out for Naruto to help him up which he accepted "good job"

"Thanks but I could have kept going I had more moves" said Naruto

"I know but it's important not to reveal all your moves especially to your rival"

It seems Kakashi was having a talk with Sasuke as well and after that the two boys approached each other they did the seal of reconciliation and then took their own ways back to their teams

"Good job Naruto!" said Ino

"You looked alright" said Shikamaru

"Um thanks guys" said Naruto as he rubbed the back of his head

"It was a good match but I think it times to go over your battle style" said Asuma

"What do you mean? He looked awesome out their sensei" said Ino

"Yeah but he's having too many internal conflicts on which move to choose, it's not coming naturally to you" said Asuma "simply you're thinking too much"

Naruto starting to get what he meant but wanted to confirm "How?"

"Well based on what I counted you already have 8 techniques and working on at least 3 other ones" said the bearded jonin "and a lot of them serve the same purpose, attack."

"Now visualize going through that fight with into that match with only your chains, your wind jutsu and the three academy jutsu, how different could that fight have been" said Asuma

Naruto sees himself using more of the substitution jutsu for evasion, and the clone jutsu for distraction, also seeing using his chains to aid in combat and his blow away to give him more time to get away and buy time

"I see I need to be more creative and not over complex things" said the blond male

"Correct now for now on only use those 5 jutsu and save the other for later and we'll work on your other jutsu to add to your arsenal, you don't have to be the third and know nearly every jutsu, just learn some that will aid your fighting style" said Asuma

"I agree while watching your fight, you used offense as your defense too much, you need to learn how to defend better'' added the Nara "look it appears that your role on this team to is to be the point and you can't handle yourself you might as well die on the first mission"

Ino punched Shikamaru in the arm for his harshness "don't say that! But he's right me and Shika are more suited to be in the back so you will be the one doing the main fighting and we need to be confident that you have our back so we can have yours" said Ino as she pointed in Naruto's chest to emphasize her point "and for us to be at ease you need to be able to handle yourself"

"They're both right I'm only going to fight if I have to meaning you're doing most of the fighting, and if you can't fight with complete confidence then you might as well quit" said the son of the third Hokage

"Thanks guys I know what I have to do!" said a serious Naruto

"Good!"

* * *

Yay! chapter 2 done!

I'm still getting used to fight scenes but I'm still learning the move Ino used and Naruto copied was PTS Ino's grab/throw in storm generations, I thought it was a nice flowing movement

This was too show that albeit Naruto's strong he's not a genius he still has a lot to learn and to help flesh out the Ino and Shikamaru's role in the team since we never saw how much the canon team 10 worked in the beginning of Naruto

Chapter 3 should be out sooner than later so please comment and review and follow along with a follow and favorite! :)


	3. Ch3: Turn Over

Mission 1

* * *

Team 10 exit the Hokage tower after receiving their first C-rank mission, they breezed through the 10 D-ranks besides the cat one yeah hey struggled just like the other teams, it didn't make them feel better that team 7 had the fastest record

Team 10 had a small rivalry mainly because of Naruto and Sasuke, but it extended to Shino and Shikamaru who were both the intellectual type and when they were forced to spar one day it ended in a tie. Hinata and Ino were civil but Ino doesn't like the fact that Hinata was better than her currently so any news of team 7 was heard by them.

Team 10 first C-rank was a simple one, in terms of a C-rank. It was a capture mission, a bandit group had been causing mischief near Konoha and had to be taken care of.

"Remember bandits can't use chakra since they are just civilians who went rogue. So no need to go overboard" said Asuma as he and his team arrived at the gate

"Do we know how many bandits there are the report gave no amount" asked Ino

"No we don't but bandit group estimates to around 20 bandits since they have to overpower through numbers" responded the smoking jonin

"So are we capturing all of them or just the leader?" asked Shikamaru

"Depending on the size, if it's not a lot then we can capture them all but if there is the probably only the leader and a maybe a couple others that could be threats" said Asuma "Anymore quick questions before we leave? Naruto?"

"No, I'm good I mean what could go wrong" said Naruto

The team departed they took there time since the mission was still in the land of fire and wasn't that far from Konoha, they made light conversation which died out quickly as they grew closer to the location

They made it to the location it was a simple field in the middle of trees. The team was surprised by the number of bandits

"I counted 66" said Asuma as he was mildly surprised by the number

"Yeah but they have tents meaning there could be more" added Naruto

"What do we do sensei?" asked Ino as she and the other two looked to the jonin

"*sigh* Well go have fun I don't sense any big chakra signatures so they are all indeed bandits so…" said Asuma as he took out his cigarette and lighter and began to light it "Go have fun"

They all took that differently Naruto smiled, Shikamaru grunted and Ino couldn't believe what she heard

'Have fun? There's over 60 people down there and three of us how are we supposed to have …' Ino started thinking until she saw Naruto hop down from the branch they were all on and landed

"Hey bandits!" yelled Naruto which turned all their heads "You might as well tie yourself up now unless you want to get beat up

The bandits only responded by picking up their weapons and got ready to fight

'Damn Naruto we could have played this out a lot better' thought Shikamaru as he and Ino went to join their teammate

Naruto went forward first and was easily defeating the bandits, Ino went to back him up as she saw no need to use her mind jutsus, while Shikamaru just got the leftovers

Asuma was gazing from above proud to see that even with his boasting Naruto was being very efficient and not getting unfocused, and to see that Ino and Shikamaru's taijutsu was enough to defeat bandits

As he was watching he heard something from behind coming towards him he dodged it but he felt his body become numb

'Sound?!' thought Asuma as he fell out of the tree and roughly hit the ground, the team sees this and went to check on Asuma as they almost finished off the bandits, they examine Asuma and see that he was paralyzed somehow

"It was sound! something came from this weapon and it made my body go numb" struggled Asuma to speak "Look Out!"

The three genin scattered as they took the advice from their sensei, they look in the direction it came from a saw a man standing across the field with the bandits behind them

"Who are you?" asked Shikamaru

"I'm just a rogue ninja from the Kumo and decided to join this bandit group to make a living" said the missing nin

They all saw that he had headband on but it had a sound note on it

"What's with the headband? That some kind of village?" asked Naruto as he glanced at Shikamaru and Ino

"Oh yes I joined this new village but I'm free to do my own bidding so I decided to mess with travelers and these lovely gentlemen allowed me to join in" said the man who overheard Naruto

Ino glanced at the weapon the man was holding and saw that it was a strange looking boomerang

"What's with the boomerang!?" asked Ino

"Oh this this is one of the weapons I got from the village I'm a part of, it's very useful" the man said

'It must emit a sound wave of some sort when thrown which explains why I was still affected' thought Asuma as he could no longer speak loudly

"Let me show you how useful it is!" said the man as he threw the boomerang towards Ino

Seeing the attack coming she jumped a great distance away from the boomerang but it began to come around and it whipped towards Shikamaru who wasn't ready for it but still managed to dodge it but was affected by it as he kneeled over

'Damn I lost feeling in my whole left side' thought Shikamaru

The man caught his boomerang and laughed at the genin's reaction to seeing Shikamaru kneel over

'Shikamaru jumped a greater distance than I did but was still affected meaning you would have to dodge a greater distance than him like Ino did' thought Asuma

Meanwhile Naruto thought the same thing and went into his pouch and got earplugs and put them in 'Man who knew all the time I ignored Kiba in class with these things that they would come in handy' thought Naruto 'Unfortunately I don't have more so I'm going to have to coordinate with the others but how am I going to hear them without hearing them?'

Naruto took in his surroundings and saw that even the bandits could take out Asuma and Shika in their states so priority was to get rid of the bandits he made a look towards Shikamaru and pointed to his ear and took off towards the missing nin and the bandits

"Ino link us up!" said Shikamaru to Ino

"But I haven't practiced that with you all yet" responded the Yamanaka

"Well unless you can find another way to communicate with Naruto then you have no choice!"

Ino saw that Naruto could indeed not hear them started doing the hand signs slowly trying not to mess up as this was a serious situation

Naruto charged the missing nin, the missing nin only scoffed and took his boomerang and extended the hidden blade from the boomerang and prepared to swipe at the blond genin, but Naruto never intending to attack dodge the swipe and twisted to the man's side

"Wind Style: Blow away!" said an unbalance Naruto as he used his jutsu to blow the rogue away which is exactly what happen

Naruto made a look towards Ino which meant it was now or never

'Mind transmission jutsu!' Ino executed she wouldn't know when it would work until her teammates thought something

'This feels weird' thought Naruto

'It worked!' thought Ino as she was visibly excited

'Yeah it worked now don't yell in my head now too' thought Shikamaru

'Good job Ino I knew you could do it' thought Asuma as he was still down

'Asuma sensei! What do we do?' asked Ino

'I'm starting to get feeling back in my toes so the jutsu is starting to wear off meaning Shikamaru will be up before I am, so priority is to buy time until I'm back up' thought Asuma to the three genin

'Right!'

'I can't tell you all how to fight so I'm going to focus on trying to get my body back to normal while you three improvise'

'Alright I'll coordinate then, Ino use your disturbance jutsu to get the bandits to fight each other' thought Shikamaru

'Alright!' thought Ino as she made a rectangle with her hands and focused on the bandits "Mind Disturbance jutsu!"

The bandits grew confused as they lost control of their bodies which later grew to fear as they started to beat each other up

The missing nin emerged from the trees which he was blown into only to see the bandits hit each other 'incompetent fools just because you can't do anything doesn't mean you hurt yourselves' thought the man

"Nice technique boy, you deserve to know my name, it's Eui" said the man now known as Eui

"Ew?" responded Naruto as he tried to read Eui's lips

'Eui!' thought the team to correct Naruto

"You have a lot of nerve mispronouncing my name, guess I'm going to have to kill you" said Eui

Eui put away his boomerang and went through hand signs "Fire Style: Fire ball jutsu!"

A huge fireball came towards Naruto and he was struggling to find a way out of this as this was way bigger than any of Sasuke's

'Naruto it's time to forget about that limit I gave you use any means necessary' thought Asuma to Naruto

Naruto nodded and used his flying Raijin jutsu to teleport next to Shikamaru but he cut it close since his jacket and pants were slightly burned

'When the hell did you mark me?' thought Shikamaru as he tried to recall when Naruto marked him

'I marked our friend's years ago, since the seal never goes away' thought Naruto 'figure it would be helpful later on'

Ino looked at Naruto and saw he had markings around his wrist since his jacket was slightly burned and able to see more skin of her teammate

'What are those markings Naruto?' thought Ino

'Seals'

'Naruto don't tell me you're wearing gravity seals' thought Asuma

'Gravity seals?' thought Ino

'Gravity seals make your body heavier wherever they are placed' thought Asuma 'they are a training method, NOT FOR MISSIONS!'

'Sorry I figured this would be a light mission' thought Naruto in his defense

'No excuse! What level are they at'? Asked Asuma

'Level 7'

'Damn with that you could almost out run everyone in Konoha including me' thought Asuma

'Really these seals can do that' thought Shikamaru

'Yes but they take forever for me to raise the level I started this training when I was 5 it takes about a year to level up'

'Naruto it's time to release them'

'But I haven't had time to get used to it'

'No time we need to at least distract him so use your speed to distract him'

"Gravity Seal: release!' said Naruto as the marking glowed yellow indicating he was interacting with the seals then dimmed back down showing he was done

Eui now found Naruto since he initially thought he was burned by the fire only to turn around and see him by his teammates

"Found you! Now it's time cut you down to size" said Eui as he took the sword from his back and got into his stance

And in a blink of an eye Naruto was in front of Eui passed his sword with his palms out

'Fast mother-' thought Eui as he was shocked by electricity

"Lightning style: thunder palm!" said Naruto as he coated his hands in electricity and touched Eui sending electricity through his system

The lightning died down and Eui was just standing there until he quickly kicked Naruto far back

"Nice try but I'm from Kumo you know the lightning village I'm used to being shocked" said Eui as he charged Naruto with his sword

The sword was very fast but Naruto was reflexes were very high, but it was still too much of a disadvantage for Naruto alone

'Guys I don't think I can dodge all day I don't have enough speed to surprise him again' thought Naruto to his team as he tried body flickering to Eui's left but just received a quick elbow to his face with the non-sword arm 'Nor enough power to actually make enough of an impact'

'I'm almost free from the numbness so when I'm ready the three of us can buy even more time for Asuma' thought Shikamaru

'Alright I'll make my move, Ino cover me!' thought Naruto as he took a mild leap back

Naruto activated his chains as they extended from both his hands, he started using them to create some distance and using them for combat, he flung his left chain towards Eui sword, Eui let him grab it since he started to get a cocky thinking a kid can't out muscle him, Naruto then did the same thing with his other chain this time wrapped Eui's arm

Eui noticing the situation started muscling back, trying to get loose

"Hmm seems like I can't break these chains" commented the rogue nin

'Now Ino!' thought Naruto

"Right!" said Ino as she flung two kunai at Eui right above Naruto's head into the man's chest

He laughed since he didn't flinch at the kunai piercing his skin "You think kunai can do serious damage to me! Try something else!"

*BOOM*

The handle of the kunai was discreetly wrapped with explosive tags disguising them as unique handle wraps

Naruto let go of Eui to have the explosion take full affect

'I'm good' thought Shikamaru as he got up on both feet

'Great!' thought Naruto as he took a leap back to regroup with his time

'Now I don't have an attack that will really affect him enough nor was I able to tag him since I wasted my best opportunity so we're going to have to keep trying to trap him with your techniques until Asuma sensei is back up' thought Naruto mad at himself to not have any effect on this guy

'It's okay Naruto that's why you have teammates' thought Ino

'But it's my job to attack and I can't do that so what am I going to do'

'You have the will of fire Naruto use it' thought Asuma

'The will of fire?' questioned Shikamaru

'Naruto knows what I mean, look I know you went into thinking you were strong but you're not just strong you're a shinobi and shinobi use more than just power'

'I know but he's literally toying with us'

'And well use that to our advantage'

'Alright I have a plan but Shika it's up to you to time it right we're going to use an improvise version of what we did to sensei in our test, so Ino back me up' thought Naruto as took his chains back out

Naruto charged after Eui who had just emerged from the smoke and with a spinning kick he went for the head but Eui blocked it the flat end of his sword, Ino came in with Sweep kick but didn't affect Eui at all

"Ow it felt like metal!" Ino said out loud as she gave her space from Eui

'Metal! he might be wearing some armor, Ino see where there are openings as Naruto distracts him' thought Shikamaru as he was analyzing Eui to find openings himself

'Got it!'

Naruto meanwhile was trying to disarm Eui before he uses his boomerang again so he was keeping him busy so he couldn't get his boomerang back out

Naruto went for a punch but Eui simply grabbed it a threw him onto the ground he held him down with his foot as he got his sword ready for the finishing blow, but Ino threw another explosive tag to separate them Eui jumped back to avoid the explosion while Naruto discreetly teleported back to Ino to avoid full impact but his clothes were even more damaged

'Thanks Ino' thought Naruto

"No problem!'

As the two genin got ready a boomerang headed their way, Naruto thinking fast took his own earplugs and put them in Ino's ear as he grabbed the boomerang getting the full sound wave. He used the last amount of energy he had as he threw the boomerang back at Eui who was caught by surprise and avoided the boomerang but still got some of the sound to his ears forcing him to kneel over

'Shikamaru! Ino! Now' thought Naruto

Shikamaru used his Shadow possession jutsu to restrict Eui's movement and force his numb body to stand up to give Ino a good shot

'I have to release the telepathy to do this' thought Ino to her team who all understood

As she used the mind transfer jutsu to render her own body useless as it laid next to Naruto but gain control of Eui's body, she quickly disarmed Eui of all his weapons including his sword, boomerang and weapon pouch by throwing them towards Shikamaru and Asuma

Shikamaru released his jutsu once Ino gained control and used his ninja wire to tie Eui body to the nearest tree and gagged him for good measure, once Shikamaru gave the ok Ino released her jutsu and returned back to her body

As she got up Ino took out the earplugs and went to check on Naruto

"You idiot!" said Ino "I didn't need you to protect me"

"But I wanted to, besides you were key to taking down that guy" said Naruto as he laid there unable to move

"But you don't sacrifice yourself for me!" said Ino borderline crying in frustration

"I got your back and you got mine I don't see the big deal we won" said Naruto as he was confused by Ino's reaction

"But what if we didn't you would be unable to fight and we would all die you're too reckless!" exclaimed Ino you have to keep yourself in mind as well

"Maybe but you're all safe which is priority for me and once Asuma-sensei full gets up we can finish the mission and relax" said Naruto nonchalant

"You are too calm about risking your life like that" said Ino

"If you think I got a death wish then you're wrong I have no plans at dying young" responded the male blond

Asuma finally managed to get up and move his body "Good work team" he said as started to pick up Eui's equipment and seal it in a scroll he had, he later signaled for a bird, which revealed itself to be Konoha's messenger bird and put a note inside the container

"I already sent a message to the village for the bandits here but we're taking in the rogue nin in ourselves" said Asuma as he slumped the numb body of Eui over his shoulder "Shikamaru and Ino help carry Naruto back to the village"

The walk back to village was calm but there was tension, Asuma kept checking to see when Eui will be mobile, while Ino was still mad at Naruto, but Naruto and Shikamaru were quiet but lightly talking to themselves

They arrived to the Hokage tower where the guards took Eui to the Intelligence Division for Ibiki, by that time Naruto regained feeling in his legs so but not his total upper body but he still walked up the stairs to help give the mission report

* * *

Hokage's Office

"Ah team 10- what happen to you!" said the third Hokage seeing three beat up genin and a dirty Asuma from the dirt he was lying in

"Oh well you see..." said Asuma as scratched the back of his head embarrassed

After Asuma with assistance from the genin gave the mission report Asuma approached with a different manner

"The ninja the genin fought had this weapon on him which rendered me Shikamaru and Naruto helpless for a significant amount of time" said Asuma as he presented the boomerang "It presents a soundwave invisible to the eyes but it renders the body numb the more depending on how close you are to it as I and Naruto were numb all over but Shikamaru was numb on only his left side and Ino managed to dodge meaning it had a limited range"

"Hmm it seems that this a troublesome weapon I'll have Shizune and others analyze it" said Hiruzen as he handed it to one of his hidden Anbu bodyguards who took it and left the room presumably towards Shizune

"Alright anything else you wish to share" asked The third Hokage

"We have the rogue's sword and something of interest to you, the second Hokage's weapon the sword of the thunder god" said Asuma as he activated the sword with a lightning sword coming out the hilt "He didn't use it in the fight so he either didn't know how to use it or forgot about it"

"Hmm well Tobirama never used much himself so maybe you or one of you genin would like it if not I'll keep it in storage"

"Well do any of you like it" asked the bearded jonin

"Ino should get it I'm not really sword person" said Naruto

"Doesn't fit me either" added Shikamaru

"Alright if you boys insist" said Ino as she accepted the sword

"Alright you have two weeks off since this C-rank that should have been a B-rank because of the missing nin" said Hiruzen "Naruto Shikamaru and Ino you are free to go I'm going to talk to your sensei for a bit"

"Yes sir!' said the genin as they left the room

* * *

Outside the tower

"Well I need to take a nap after that so I'm going home" said Shikamaru as he headed home 'I got things to work on'

"See ya Shika!" said Naruto "Well now that we're back I need to train I'll catch you later Ino"

"Mind if I join?"

"No, you're tired, you seemed to be on your last legs you should go home besides I'm only training at home nothing serious I just need to make sure my body's alright after that boomerang" said Naruto as he body flickered away

'Damn it'

* * *

 _Ino Yamanaka: daughter of Inoichi Yamanaka head of the intelligence division. Ino is strong for her age but still falls under average genin because of experience, Ino excels in ninjutsu with above average taijutsu and average genjutsu. Ino's a girly girl but is slowly outgrowing it, she feels that kunoichi are underappreciated in the shinobi world and strives to be on equal playing field as her male peers. Ino's closest friends are Shikamaru, Choji, Sakura and Naruto. She likes to relax and boss people around but based on how her teammates are she's only partially successful. Ino is a support Shinobi and described by her sensei Ino is the ultimate cheerleader as she loves to build people up._

 _Asuma: Ino is a pretty young girl, she values her teammates deeper than even she knows, her goal to be strong and support her teammates is a pro while her emotions can hinder them as well. Needs to refine her taijutsu more as well as have someone teach her some genjutsu. Potential: high chunin_

 _Shikamaru: Ino is loud and bossy. Not really much else say. She is good support for her friends so there is that. We've know each other since birth since we're only a day apart troublesome enough, so I personally know too much about her to even describe anymore. But she will be a great shinobi. Potential: Chunin since I know she has no desire to be a jonin or Hokage_

 _Naruto: Ino is cool, she's really nice and really strong, I remember when she used to always lead our group of friends on these adventures so I know she's a natural leader. Ino cares too much though as she is always concerned about others more than herself at times, I also think she has an inferior complex as she doesn't like being treated below her. But she's like a sister and I'll always treasure that. Potential: jonin I know she can do it!_

* * *

Chapter 3 done!

Sorry for the wait work is killing me by having me work the night shift

This was my idea on how a mission from team 10 would work since team 7 would get the Zabuza mission but I feel that Naruto would still get stuck with some kind of BS on his first real mission but I didn't make it to over the top like how the Zabuza mission truly was


	4. Ch4: Companions

" _L_ ook I know I'm just a genin, and that I shouldn't be learning anything dangerous yet but I need to, so please help me out by teaching me-

"The rasengan" said Naruto

"How to use this sword" said Ino

"The shadow strangle jutsu" said Shikamaru

Shikaku who was facing his son across a shogi board was surprised by the conviction in his son's voice and could only sigh as he knew this would come sooner or later and was hoping for the latter "Fine but after this game and your mother is making lunch so after that as well"

"Fine by me" responded Shikamaru

* * *

Elsewhere

Ino was talking to her own dad who was really surprised that this was the same girl who was more concerned about her hair at one point "I can teach you but only the basics as I'm no master in it as well but it will more than be good enough for that weapon you have there but beware of wind users"

"Why wind?" asked Ino

"I'll tell you another time" said Inoichi as he did not wish to be teaching her a lot

* * *

Elsewhere

Naruto was talking to his godfather Jiraiya one of the Sannin as this was his teacher/guardian up until Asuma who as his sensei is partly responsible for his genin

"I don't mind teaching it to you but you won't know it before your next mission" said Jiraiya

"Yeah well I'm not going on another serious mission for a while after that last one so I have time to learn one more technique" said Naruto

"Even so it took your father a long time to create it and it even took me a long time to learn it from him so I don't think it will be of any use to you yet"

"Let's make a bet if I don't learn this by the end of these two weeks then I will convince Aunt Tsunade to go on a date with you" said Naruto

'Yes! Naruto has Tsunade wrapped around his finger this is definitely possible' "Ok and if you do somehow learn it" said Jiraiya

"You'll help me with my other techniques" said Naruto as he handed Jiraiya a scroll

As Jiraiya opened the scroll he was surprise that Naruto was working on these kind of jutsus and techniques and he can see them working together

"I'll see what I can do with these, if you learn it" said Jiraiya taking his own scroll and copying Naruto's onto it threw a seal copying technique

"Deal"

"Deal"

Ino and Shikamaru stayed at their clan's households while Naruto took to wandering the village with a water balloon in his hand thinking back to what had happened earlier when he was telling Jiraiya about his mission

 _Flashback_

" _I really think you underestimate how much of shinobi fighting is a mainly taijutsu and kenjutsu" said Jiraiya_

" _What do you mean?" asked Naruto_

" _Well you definitely been listening to your mom and dad's stories too much they don't tell you the ones when they were genin and using just their intelligence, and when they finally learned ninjutsu they used it to tip the battle to their advantage" said Jiraiya "Not everyone has as much chakra as you do at this age so they couldn't throw all these jutsus you've learned so freely"_

" _I mean I know that but because I have a lot of chakra means I should use it to my advantage" said Naruto_

" _Wrong overusing ninjutsu is just covering up your taijutsu, now until you can use them equally without one outdoing the other then you can use ninjutsu to your advantage" said Jiraiya "Besides you save a lot of energy beating someone with only taijutsu"_

" _I see what you mean" said Naruto as he was thinking everything through his head_

" _Besides you shouldn't get too mad at the mission, the guy had armor on, trust me not many shinobi wear armor so this was just unfortunate" added Jiraiya_

" _Yeah I guess" said Naruto not totally convinced_

" _You know your dad had way too much fun on missions always smiling laughing toying with people" said Jiraiya "Part of it was because he was a little goofy"_

 _Naruto and Jiraiya shared a laughed then it got somber really quick_

" _Look just because you're a shinobi now doesn't mean you can't have fun but remember this is a serious job okay" said Jiraiya_

" _Okay!" said Naruto_

 _Flashback end_

Naruto already did the water balloon part of the it since he knew about the spinning in multiple directions part of it before hand, so he now was on the rubber balloon part which he was having trouble with as it requires dense chakra so he's thinking of a way to make his chakra denser

"Man I think I should take a break from this" said Naruto putting the ball away and going to a Training ground

He made his way to a training ground and saw team 7 arguing amongst each other, well more of Shino and Sasuke arguing and Hinata trying to mediate

"Hey guys what are you guys arguing about?" asked Naruto

"Shino seems to think he doesn't need to participate in our taijutsu sparring since he doesn't need to because of his insects" said Sasuke

"This is true but Sasuke won't let me use my insects in our spar. Why? Because he knows I will win" said Shino

"They have been like this for the past hour" said Hinata "And we have a mission soon later today"

"Oh what kind?" asked Naruto to Hinata as he was genuinely curious in all missions

"Our first C-rank Kakashi-sensei hasn't told us what it would be yet" said Hinata

"Be careful, my team's first C-rank had a bad turn" said Naruto

"Yeah we heard sorry to hear but hey it was a cool B-rank right?!" said Sasuke

"Maybe looking back on it but in the moment it was terrifying since Asuma-sensei was down" said Naruto

"Yeah I can see that" admitted Sasuke

"And to let you both know you're both right" said the blond ninja addressing both Shino and Sasuke

"How?" asked Shino

"Shino is right that if he uses his insects it will be extremely easier than without" said Naruto "But Sasuke's also right in training in your pure taijutsu will only improve you overall"

"How I'm not a close fighter. Why? Because my parasitic insects can fight from afar" said the goggle wearing genin

"What happens if you fight someone that can defeat your bugs like a dangerous fire user that likes to get up close" said Naruto

"I see what you are saying Naruto, Taijutsu is not only for offense. Why? Because it can be used for defense such as protecting myself" admitted Shino as he wouldn't want his bugs to get burned and him left defenseless

"Yeah if you have a strong defense you can have a good offense" said Naruto which Shino nodded in agreement

"Alright Sasuke lets spar but no sharingan as I am not that proficient in taijutsu as you and Hinata are" said Shino as he took his hands out his pockets and pushed up his sunglasses

"Fine by me but remember to keep it light we have a mission today" agreed Sasuke

As Sasuke and Shino sparred Hinata and Naruto sat down making light conversation

"Oh so I know how much you listen in on the rest of the world anything new out there" said Hinata as she knew Naruto was always curious about the other villages

"Oh yeah! Kirigakure finally picked their new Mizukage and it's a young woman name Mei, she's letting all the bloodlines back in since their civil war is over" said Naruto as he handed Hinata the news scroll he got the info from

"That's great the first female kage and Kiri finally ended the civil war" said Hinata reading the scroll

Naruto felt a ting in his mind similar to his last mission which was letting him know Ino is trying to use her telepathy but is probably too far away to make good contact

"Look I got to go keep the scroll I'll get it back from you later see ya Hinata! See ya guys!" said Naruto as he made his way towards the flower shop

"Bye Naruto-kun!" said Hinata as she waved him off and continued to read the scroll 'I wonder how many people will come back to Kiri?'

* * *

Flower shop

Ino was outside the shop with Shikamaru already there meaning he was last as he knew Asuma was probably not coming

"Hey guys! What's up?" asked Naruto

"Me and Ino have been working on ways to strengthen our offensive side to take the load off of you" said Shikamaru

"Wait what?" Asked Naruto curious on what brought this out

"Look we put too much pressure on you and we're going to take some off you okay" Said Ino

"Is this because of the last mission then you really shouldn't worry it was a simple mismatch I mean I'm better now than I was before" said Naruto

"Not just that but we felt really useless as you were fighting Eui and we want to make a bigger difference" said Ino

"Look you guys were the ones who managed to capture him I don't see how you felt useless, Shikamaru you were basically paralyzed most of the fight and Ino you were trying to use telepathy on the four of us the whole time while fighting that's difficult in concept alone" said Naruto

"But you had to do everything from protecting us to fighting Eui who had an advantage on you, I should have come with a strategy to better protect you and give us an advantage" said Shikamaru

"Shika it was your first real mission you probably had nerves the situation didn't help at all, and Ino same with you but the fact that we made it through it means we can only go up from here besides I know what I have to do from now on to get better"

"What's that?" asked Shikamaru

"Being more confident"

Asuma said as he appeared in front of them out of nowhere, he also felt the transmission in his mind but decided to come last to observe his team first

"What do you mean Naruto is the one of most confident people I know" said Ino

"Maybe but he lost some during that fight with the rogue ninja" said Asuma

"Is it true?" asked the Nara as he came to realization that Asuma was right "You were sloppy in a few places such as when you kept using your wind jutsu without marking him with your teleportation jutsu"

"Yeah it's true, I got a bit... stiff … if that's a good way to put it" said Naruto as he was scratching the side of his head trying to think of a better word

"Yeah you had too much going on to keep you focus from me being unavailable to Ino's telepathy with all of us in your mind for the first time, plus you had to sacrifice your sense of hearing in the fight just limited your senses plus seeing your techniques fail or have little effect against the enemy lowers anyone's confidence and Naruto is no different" said Asuma

Ino and Shikamaru both came to realize that it wasn't the pressure that was getting to Naruto it was simply the situation

'I mean if I was playing shogi against Dad and all my moves were failing plus I have people yelling in my ear plus I have to keep in mind that I'm not allowed to use certain pieces on the board it is an unfavorable situation more like a no win situation' thought the Nara

'An unfavorable situation, it was basically unbeatable until Shikamaru was able to use his jutsu which only gave us the element of surprise which we were able to capitalize on. Naruto was in a spot where no one wants to be in especially for a first mission a major blow to his ego' thought Ino

"Look I'm sorry Naruto for making it seem like you were incapable we thought we pressured to much on you when in fact it was the mission itself besides if it was me or Ino out there with you paralyzed we all would have been dead for sure" said Shikamaru

"It's cool and don't sell yourself short you're much smarter than me and you would have found a way" said Naruto

"I'm sorry too I thought you viewed me as someone who needs protecting and not seeing things from your point of view since you're right since without Asuma-sensei me and Shikamaru abilities you were the best shot we had" said Ino

"It's alright besides of course you two are worth protecting we're friends right?" said Naruto a-matter-of-fact

"Right!" said Ino

"Troublesome I guess we are" said Shikamaru

"Good! Now Naruto are you okay" asked Asuma speaking of the confidence viewpoint

"I'm fine I worked it out but I think it was needed it was kind of a wakeup call to show that I'm nowhere near as strong as where I want to be and that my fundamentals are key" said Naruto

"I didn't see anything wrong with your fundamentals" commented Ino

"Maybe but I've been focusing so much improving my ninjutsu arsenal that I didn't work much on being stealthy and tricky, I honestly haven't worked on my taijutsu that much either since I've been relying on my speed so much" said Naruto

"Good to hear that you all have a goal to improve on since the chunin exams are month from now and I would like to enter you all" said Asuma

"Chunin exams?" questioned the only female around

"It's a test to see whether we are ready to be promoted to chunin, it's the only way to be promoted" answered the blond male

"Correct and in addition to that it's a showcase to other villages that the next generation is just as good if not better than the previous" said Asuma

"Wait so other villages take the same exam as us?" asked Ino

"Yes as of right now the exam will be here in Konoha, it changes location every six months, and villages may send as many genin teams as they wish to participate" said Asuma

"So basically it's their way of saying that they are better than us" said Shikamaru

"In a way, you can view it that way if you want but it's more of a peace agreement showing good blood between villages" said the Jonin

"Yeah it's also a scouting tool" said Naruto

"Scouting?" questioned Ino

"There's usually a good chance we will see the participants in the exam later in life as they would be around our age rather than Asuma-sensei's so it ruins the element of surprise when they already know your techniques, it also gives villages a heads up of who to look out for in the future" said Naruto

"A heads up?" asked Ino

"Like if I use the flying thunder god for people to see they will know that I can use it so now they know to beware of getting marked or anything already marked" said Naruto "It might help ninja like Shikamaru who like to know the enemy's abilities beforehand to plan better, but for shinobi like me who like to keep people on their toes to make the battle in my favor puts me at a disadvantage"

'Naruto does like being in control of a battle' Ino quickly thought

"I see you don't like the idea of the exams" said Asuma amused by Naruto's dislike of the exams

"Being around my parents, my godfather, my aunt and the third Hokage a lot gave me insight of how messed up things are" said Naruto "I love peace but the exams are almost built for disaster"

* * *

 _Naruto: the son of the late Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki, Naruto is a prodigy but not by blood but by the people around him he strives to be a great shinobi. Naruto's upbringing made him dislike the politics that involve the shinobi world, but overall is positive guy. He excels in ninjutsu and taijutsu, possess average genjutsu skill. Naruto inherited his father speed and skill, his mother's chakra and caring a fun-loving personality. Naruto's closest friends are Hinata, Sasuke, Ino and Shikamaru as they see how complicated Naruto can really be and accept that about him. Naruto loves to have fun but knows when to be serious, he's cocky but is able to deflate his ego. He's a natural leader who doesn't like to lead but doesn't know when he's already leading._

 _Asuma: Naruto's a great kid I see a little of myself in him I would like to pass down some techniques to him one day. His skillset is deadly but also is weak if opponent has a counter will need to put him in more fights to develop him more, Potential skill level: Jonin/Kage_

 _Ino: Naruto's awesome, his positive response to things are reassuring it puts me at ease. Having him as a teammate is great since we get along well, I might act like a big sister at times but I only care for him. He's really strong to know someone my age is that strong is inspiring I want to be able to assist him however I can. His confidence is needed around someone like me since I need to know that I'm not being delusional at times. I value his friendship a lot especially of all the hardships he had faced. Potential skill level: Jonin easily!_

 _Shikamaru: Naruto is a strange puzzle that I haven't solved yet. I sometimes see a mature shinobi ready to go to the battlefield any minute he is called upon and other times I see a 12-year-old kid who's having too much fun and doesn't take things seriously. He's smart but not the smartest, he's strong but the not the strongest but I can't help but get behind this guy whenever, whatever. Troublesome. A good friend he value's stargazing like how I like cloud watching so I can respect him for that. Potential skill level: tokubetsu Jonin I don't know if he would even want to be a full Jonin_


	5. Ch5: Foreboding Skies

_Bar_

 _Asuma, Kurenai and a few other Jonin were enjoying themselves at the bar_

" _You're kidding Gai did what!?" asked a laughing Genma_

" _He tried asking Shizune out and Tsunade was nearby and punched him out the Hospital" said Kurenai_

" _Why did she do that?" asked Asuma as he was sipping a drink_

" _Probably because Shizune might say yes to it. She's been really looking for a boyfriend lately" said Kurenai_

" _Well because she's looking for somebody to settle down with and no one I know is thinking about settling down yet" said Aoba_

" _Yeah not many other shinobi are looking to slow down yet" added Asuma_

" _Oh really?" asked Kurenai with intrigued directed at only Asuma_

" _Well- I- Guys?" said Asuma asking for help only to see them escaping to the bar_

" _No worried Asuma I'm only messing with you" said Kurenai resting her head on his shoulder_

" _You put me in some situations though" said Asuma as he wrapped his arm around her_

" _What do we have here?!"_

 _Kurenai and Asuma quickly separated and followed with a blush of embarrassment_

" _What do you want Kakashi?" asked Kurenai_

" _We need to talk the three of us" said Kakashi seriously_

" _Right" they both said as they followed him outside_

 _Kakashi gave them a book_

" _A bingo book? is there a new enemy to look out for?" asked Asuma starting to flip through the book_

" _Check out the potential threats section" said Kakashi_

 _Asuma flipped through it with Kurenai hovering over him to also look and they both widen their eyes to what they saw. It was the nine genin that they were teaching all listed under the potential threats section meaning they have the potential to be an A-S rank threat_

" _Why are they in here?" asked Kurenai_

" _I don't know about your teams but my team had an encounter with Zabuza of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, and in the process we saved the land of waves and had Zabuza and his apprentice sent back to Kiri" said Kakashi "Zabuza or someone else must have told someone about how my genin performed"_

" _I see well my genin and me stopped a corrupt leadership in Yugakure as it was run by this rogue chunin who was using his power to be a dictator, and my genin were the ones who exposed him, we didn't capture him so he probably fled to his home village and told about us" said Kurenai_

" _You already know what my team did so I guess that Eui told someone back in Kumo what they did after we sent him back there" said Asuma_

 _Kurenai looked in the book again and saw a title over each of the genin's head "Why does it say Konoha's soaring leaves?" asked Kurenai_

" _They decided that since these were all recorded around the same time and that the genin looked around the same age they should group them together" said Kakashi_

" _Like how they named the seven ninja swordsmen in Kiri and the Kinkaku force in Kumo" said Asuma_

" _And the puppet brigade in Suna and explosion corps in Iwa" added Kurenai_

" _Yeah I just felt I should bring this up to you before we go confront the Hokage with this news" said Kakashi as he put the bingo book back in his pouch_

" _Appreciate it" said Asuma as he and the other two made their way to Hokage tower_

* * *

Training ground 8 - next morning

Sakura was currently in her team's training ground practicing her tree walking

'I wasn't much help on the last mission I got to be able to keep up with the guys' Sakura was thinking as she was hanging upside down from a branch

"Hey Sakura!" yelled a voice

Sakura lost her concentration and proceeded to fall, just as she was about to hit the ground she was caught

"Sakura you okay" asked the same voice

"Yeah I'm fine Naruto please don't surprise me like that" said Sakura as she got back on her own feet

"What were you doing?" asked Naruto

"I was practicing my tree walking" said Sakura

"Literally just standing there is like the worse training you can do though "pointed out Naruto

"What do you mean?" asked Sakura

"Tree walking should be unconscious to you as you master it so doing other things like walking or sparring while tree walking is a better training route" suggested Naruto

"Did you do this?" asked Sakura

"Yeah me and Sasuke used to always spar while doing this" said Naruto

"Alright let's do it" said Sakura

"What?" asked a confused Naruto

"Come on let's spar" said Sakura

"You don't seem ready yet" said Naruto

"Don't underestimate me!" said an angry Sakura

'Why do people think I'm always underestimating them' thought Naruto "Fine but I warned you"

Naruto leaped onto the tree higher up casually sticking to the tree and got into his stance, he watched as Sakura slowly walked up the tree getting more comfortable into her stance

"Ladies first" Naruto taunted knowing she was having a hard time

Sakura grimaced but started putting some more speed in her movements, she started with a punch which was blocked and she followed with another punch which this time was grabbed

'Damn I'm going to have to use my feet, to fight correctly, how do I balance on one foot and still fight' thought Sakura as she furrowed her brow

"You're thinking too much Sakura I can see it on your face" said Naruto "Fighting is more natural process you only think when you're reading movements and even then it's something that happens naturally, just fight me"

"Fine!"

Sakura started to attack Naruto seriously as she was also keeping her balance on the tree trunk, Naruto didn't go all out as he was mostly dodging and blocking in order to let Sakura keep her balance and control

"If you don't throw a punch I'm going to get really mad" said Sakura as her speed increased

'She got faster since the academy!' thought Naruto with surprise as he increased his pace to match hers

Sakura threw a punch that would have landed in the punch but Naruto body flickered back a few steps, the punch hit the trunk hard that it chipped some of the wood of the area off

'She's using chakra in her fists to increase her damage, similar to Aunt Tsunade' thought Naruto "Okay fine you're getting used to it so we'll just go through some katas" said Naruto as he went through the motions with Sakura

Katas are a training exercise that shinobi use regularly. It's a practice of the skill of the taijutsu as they never go full speed or full strength it was just a practice of technique and if you do it with a partner then you're practicing your defense and reflexes as well

As Naruto and Sakura were practicing Kiba and Choji arrived to see the two sparring

"Hey Sakura what is Naruto doing here?" asked Kiba interrupting the two

"Oh my bad I was just walking and I saw Sakura training and just joined in" said Naruto

"Well let me and you spar we haven't fought since the academy" said Kiba as his dog Akamaru barked in agreement

 _Flashback_

" _You all seem ready for the chunin exams so once available I'll sign you up but remember keep your abilities a secret until the exams" said Asuma_

" _Why were all Konoha shinobi here in the village" said Ino_

" _Well once the exam starts everyone is your enemy and rival except for your teammates" said Asuma_

" _What about our friends on the other team" asked Naruto_

" _I'm not going to say stop socializing with them but there may be a point where you might be up against each other so it will be bad if they know all your skills, strengths and weaknesses" said Asuma "Alright I got to go training's over but feel free to stay"_

 _As Asuma left the genin all looked at each other_

" _He's right you know, when the exams start it's us against everyone else" said Shikamaru_

" _I know but it will feel weird to fight someone like Sasuke seriously" said Ino_

" _Maybe we can get a truce with them" suggested Naruto_

" _That'll only work if everyone agrees with it and even then there might be a part where we are forced to fight or something of the sorts" said Shikamaru_

" _Well I know Choji and Sakura won't be against it" said Ino_

" _Same with Hinata and Shino" added Naruto "The two stubborn ones will be the ones worth convincing"_

" _Kiba and Sasuke… well if their teammates agree to it than they should as well" said Ino_

" _Maybe Kiba but Sasuke would only do it if there is a threat he feels like he can't beat and you know how high he regards himself" said Shikamaru_

" _You're right I'll see what I can do" said Naruto_

 _Flashback end_

"No thanks Kiba I'm hungry, Sakura want to join me?" asked Naruto

"Sure Naruto beats dog breath here" said Sakura which made Naruto laugh at the joke

Choji was about to join them but was held back by Kiba

"Well me and Choji will train without you then" yelled Kiba

'Why me' thought Choji upset at not getting food

As Sakura and Naruto were walking to Ichiraku they were making light conversation until they ran into Sasuke

"Sasuke!?" said a surprised Sakura

"What's up Sasuke we're getting something to eat want to join?" asked Naruto

"Sure" said Sasuke

The three of them were walking until Naruto and Sasuke sense something and leaped away leaving Sakura in confusion until

"Now!" yelled a voice

A balloon soared through the air towards Sakura, it took a second but Sakura saw what it was and tried leaping away as well but she was too late, orange paint splattered everywhere even though Sakura jumped away it still got on her sandals and feet leaving them orange

"My sandals!" yelled an angry Sakura

By this time Naruto and Sasuke returned, Naruto was laughing loudly and Sasuke looked amused, the attacker revealed themselves and it was Ama the girl who treated herself as Naruto's sister

"Man! I almost got you big bro!" whined Ama as Naruto and Sasuke were spotless

"Good try, might want to make something that is little more silent, we heard that balloon as soon as you launched it" said Naruto

"Little brat!" said an enraged Sakura

"You might want to run" suggested Naruto and Sasuke even nodded in agreement

As Ama turned to the corner to escape Sakura's wrath she bumped into something and fell from the impact

"Sorry about that" said Ama as she dusted herself off

"That hurt" said the person she bumped into

"Huh?"

"That hurt brat!" said the man who lifted Ama up by her hair

"Stop it, we're going to get scolded for this later" said the woman with the man

Sakura turned the corner to see the event

"What are you doing put her down!" said Sakura 'Who are they, they're not from here'

"I need payback" said the brat

"If you don't put me down my brother is going to beat you up" said Ama borderline crying from her hair being pulled on

"I'm not scared of your brother" said the man until he felt a presence behind him

"You should be" said Naruto who appeared behind the woman catching her off guard as well as shown with the kunai to her throat

'Fast!' thought both the man and woman

"You let her go I'll let this one go" said Naruto "Or do I have to tell the Hokage we got Suna genin messing with civilians"

The man let Ama go and Naruto the same with the woman, as Naruto began to walk he felt something around his ankle, realizing what it was he decided to kick it but was too late

"Ow!" said the man as he rubbed his hand

Sasuke was up on the nearby tree branch with some stones in his hands as he threw one at the hand the man was now rubbing

"Nice trick with those chakra threads but you can't get anything by me" said Sasuke

'He's getting cocky again' thought an annoyed Naruto 'I was going to kick so he would fall over but whatever'

'Another brat' thought the man

'Cute' thought the woman

Naruto rejoined Sakura and Ama

"Where's your third teammate" asked Sasuke

"Right here" said another voice behind Sasuke causing Sasuke to tense up "Kankuro, Temari time to stop, unless you want to be killed"

The two now known as Temari and Kankuro tensed up immensely

"Right, Kankuro was just messing around right" said Temari

"Yeah…" said a nervous Kankuro

The third teammate then landed behind his two teammates "Let's go" said the genin

"Wait what's your name" asked Sasuke as he landed in front of Naruto and Sakura

"Who me?!" said a blushing Temari

"No the red haired one" said Sasuke

"Gaara" answered the now revealed Gaara "I'm interested in you three as well"

"Sasuke Uchiha" answered Sasuke

"Sakura Haruno" said Sakura confused on why she was so interesting to him

"... I don't give out my name that easily especially to future competitors" said Naruto "Now excuse us we're going to get some food"

As Naruto said that he body flickered with Ama and Sakura and Sasuke followed suit

'The blond was cute too' thought Temari

'Got to keep an eye on those two guys' thought Kankuro

'Interesting' thought Gaara 'He'll be in the exams too'

Naruto and the others landed outside Ichiraku

"Hey Ama tell the old man get ready for four customers" said Naruto

"Right!" said Ama as she went inside the establishment

"I was actually going to talk to you guys about the exams but we have another issue, that Gaara is dangerous stay away at all costs" said Naruto

"I hate to agree but he's dangerous" said Sasuke

"Don't have to tell me twice" said Sakura scared at the thought of him

"The other matter is that I thought it would be good if our three teams had a truce especially since now that Suna team probably thinks we're teammates" said Naruto "My team is good with it but it's up to you to convince them"

"It will take some convincing to convince Kiba but Choji should be cool with it" said Sakura

"Yeah my team should be good with it as well" said Sasuke

Naruto presented out three earpieces two for Sasuke and Sakura and one for himself

"Here these are for emergencies only if you feel like you team is in serious danger such as death otherwise just put them away" said Naruto

"Alright" they both said

"Now let's eat!" said an overly enthusiastic Naruto as he entered Ichiraku

* * *

Nara Compound

Shikamaru was playing shogi against his father as usual but Shikaku, his father could sense something was off with Shikamaru

"So how's the team, I know you were a little upset that Choji wasn't a part of it" said Shikaku

"I wasn't upset I just felt sorry for him since he was with two loudmouths in Sakura and Kiba" said Shikamaru

"You have two loudmouths as well" said Shikaku

"Naruto isn't as loud as you would think, plus somehow he's keeping Ino quieter as well" said Shikamaru as he moved his piece

"That's good me and Choza never found a way to keep Inoichi quiet" said Shikaku as he took Shikamaru's piece

"I guess I just feel like these chunin exams are not going to end well and that this might be a turning point here in Konoha" said Shikamaru

"I see well I'm not supposed to tell you but there are more villages getting involved in this chunin exams which is caused by your group of friends" said Shikaku as he pulled out the bingo book and flipped to the appropriate page and showing his son "You and your friends action got attention of the ninja world so now you have people viewing you all as potential threats, plus it doesn't help that out of the nine of you 7 are from clans and Naruto is the son of the fourth"

"Yeah I heard from Choji that his team saved a small village but didn't know it would get attention like this, Naruto told me that Sasuke's team took on a missing nin like us and saved a town but I didn't think it would get world attention" said Shikamaru 'Soaring leaves really?'

"Well that has a very small part, Kiri is trying to get their name back up on people's radar, while Kumo and Iwa are interested in Naruto since his dad got the attention of both Raikage and Tsuchikage. This will be the first time in many years that all five villages participate in the same chunin exams, since Suna was already coming" explained Shikaku

"Troublesome, a lot of pressure on my team then" said Shikamaru as he made another move taking one of his father's pieces

"Yes but if you all aren't chunin strength already then you almost are, you and Ino's training makes you chunin within the clan skill wise now it's up to how you perform in front of the village" said Shikaku as he got Shikamaru in check

"Yeah that's reassuring but if these other villages are sending genin to take the exams then they have to be the best probably holding them back just for this one exam" said Shikamaru as he got out of check

"Well I guess you got to make sure you and your team are ready then, you have to lead them in there since Asuma won't be there" said Shikaku as he got back into check

'Damn I'm trapped' "I'm not the leader of the team" said Shikamaru as he moved his piece to get out of check again

"Well unless you let Naruto or Ino do all the planning then it's you, it's your time to come out the shadows Shikamaru" said Shikaku

"But shouldn't we stay in the shadow dad" said Shikamaru

"No we use them to our advantage as we coexist with them" said Shikaku as he got his son in checkmate "Checkmate!"

* * *

Yamanaka flower shop

Ino was simply bored at her job it was getting close to fall meaning a lot of the summer customers were no longer buying flowers as they probably wouldn't last as long as it was starting to get colder

As she was waiting at the counter two people came in, It was Hinata Hyuga and her little sister Hanabi

"Oh Hinata! You usually don't come in here what can I do for you" said Ino

"Hi Ino I was looking for some flowers" said Hinata

"For what occasion?" asked the yamanaka as she motioned towards all the flowers

"There a gift for a boy she likes" said Hanabi bluntly as Hinata face immediately turned red

"Ooh Hinata likes someone! You have to tell me who?" said Ino

"It's-" started Hanabi until Hinata covered her mouth

"A secret" Hinata carried on

"Come one tell me! Is it Naruto?" asked Ino "I mean its not impossible to fall for your best friend"

"N-no its not Naruto-kun" said Hinata "You haven't met him"

"Oh thats a shame you and Naruto would be perfect for each other, but if it's someone I haven't met does it mean he's in your clan?"

"No he does not belong to the clan" said Hinata while Hanabi was still struggling to get free

"So he must be older than us right?" said Ino

"Yes he is" said Hanabi as she got free

"Hanabi!" said Hinata warning her

"Fine sis I won't tell your little secret" said Hanabi

'So he's older than us and he's not a hyuga not much to go on but maybe the flower will help' thought Ino

"Okay what kind of flower were you looking for" asked Ino

"A lotus" answered Hinata as she was looking around

"Okay right over here Hinata" said Ino

* * *

Konoha meeting room

The Konoha meeting room was a long room with a long table to go with it, it was meant to be the place where all the village leaders and influencers were to discuss matters referring to the village

The people involved were the clans head, the hokage the council a select few jonin and a few civilians, today they were discussing a number of matters one of which was a rather interesting one to a lot of the members

What to do with the Soaring Leaves?

"Look all im saying is that having a group similar to the other villages could only boost our strength" said Homura

"But they are still children" said Inoichi

"Inoichi-san please let your bias towards your daughter go away and look at it this way we have 7 of the major 9 clans in this group 8 if Naruto would accept Tsunade-san's recommendation of adoption" said Danzo

"Look Naruto will do it when he wants to it has more to do than just changing a name" commented Tsunade who prefers to stay silent in this discussion along with Jiraiya

"We understand Tsunade-san, however that doesn't change the fact that these 9 are a special group" said Koharu

"I agree that a group with a representative of each major clan is a good idea but we have to remember they are still genin why don't we just have some other chunin or jonin in each clan form this group" said Shikaku

"That might work but we don't have many young chunin or jonin with as much potential as this group" said Shibi

"Hiashi you've been very quiet during this do you have anything you wish to add" said Choza

"I do this is a great idea in concept but what happens if some don't reach the potential that others do, I'm not afraid to admit this but Naruto should be stronger than my daughter once in their peaks then what happens to the power scaling does one get replace when they are not up to par with the others" said Hiashi "Does my daughter get replaced by her cousin? Does Kiba get replaced by his sister"

"Yes is this a group because of the clans or because of this group of kids, if you want clans then why not have the strongest of each clan join a group" said Tsume

"This has to with this specific group of kids" answered Hiruzen who has been letting everyone talk while he observes "Kakashi"

"We brought this up today because after our three teams C-rank later upgraded mission the nin genin are now in the potential threats section, this has not been published globally yet as I get an advance copy and probably won't until the chunin exams are finished completely" explained Kakashi as they only originally brought up the concept of the nine genin in a group have not elaborated since then

"We agree we all have talented genin but we fear that this may not be the best way for them to grow" added Asuma

"They might be 12 to 13 years old older than most of us when we turned genin but most of us didn't have a target on our back before we were chunin" concluded Kurenai

"I see well maybe they need an early promotion" suggested Shikaku "Me Inoichi and Choza already discussed this and Ino Shikamaru and Choji are all chunin strength within in the clan as they already are learning way more chunin level techniques than what is the norm"

"I can say the same about Shino, his quest to acquire more insects are remarkably high and it won't be long until his insects get stronger than mine" said Shibi

"Kiba knows most of our clan's techniques but what interests me is that he's making up his own which is really impressive" said Tsume

"I see Kurenai Hiashi, Jiraiya, and Itachi how are Sakura, Hinata, Naruto, and Sasuke's development" asked Danzo

"Sakura is becoming quite the kunoichi her knowledge of the basics increase everyday and she can potentially be the most well rounded shinobi in the village but she has yet to find a specialization, I've interested her in genjutsu but I can see that is not her passion" said Kurenai

"Hinata's is growing as she should be already being very proficient in the gentle fist, and learning a number of our techniques, but she is still struggling with the more advanced ones such as the rotation" said Hiashi "I do have to add that Naruto's influence on her and her cousin have drastically improved her development

"Naruto is to say the least scary" said Jiraiya "He's not a genius like his father but his will learn to is unrivaled as he was luckily blessed with his fathers speed and mothers chakra, taijutsu came more naturally when instructed the finer points of it, he's alright in genjutsu but he never had much attraction to it anyways, but his ninjutsu is what makes him scary, training with Tsunade here at an early age fixed any chakra control issues he might have had when growing up but with this he's a ninjutsu sponge" said Jiraiya

"What I think Jiraiya is trying to say is that my teaching him of the body and chakra made him an easy learner he see things very closely as I've trained him in medical ninjutsu but he uses that to learn techniques on a different level" said Tsunade

"Please explain Tsunade or Asuma as you are his teacher at the moment" said Danzo curious on Naruto's growth

"His medical background translated seamlessly into fighting, he already knows the basics of all five elements as he can see how others use their techniques such as my wind or Jiraiya's fire and be able to mimic it until he can get it himself" said Asuma "It's rather scary once I actually think about it as in one training session he easily copied a taijutsu move Ino did and use it in a fight as it was a natural instinct imagine once he can start copying jonin level taijutsu like Guy's"

"He makes mistakes and he's still not the smartest guy out there and trust me I tried to fix that" said Tsunade "But his will to learn is great as he practices almost 24/7"

"Good now Itachi please go over Sasuke's development" said Danzo 'I still can't believe he's alive'

 _Flashback_

 _As the Uchiha coup seemed more evident the council consisting of Hiruzen, Danzo, Homura, and Koharu were almost in full agreement that it would end in a civil war but later Shisui came up with a suggestion_

 _He suggested to use his Kotoamatsukami to change the clans mind, Kotoamatsukami is powerful that can change the mind of others by giving them false experiences but at the cost of the user's eye_

 _Many were opposed to this especially Hiruzen but they all eventually agreed upon it_

 _Shisui later about to attend one of the clan's coup meeting was getting ready as they all need to be in his field of vision but as soon as he was about to go Danzo stopped him, Danzo removed his bandages to reveal his own Sharingan and with that single glance Shisui fell victim to Danzo's own Kotoamatsukami_

 _Danzo used the Kotoamatsukami to have Shisui change his mind to hate the clan and had been ordered to eliminate them and he begun_

 _It was until Itachi who later arrived managed to stop Shisui and save about 35% of the clan his brother included but had lost the clan head Fugaku along with his wife Mikoto, with Itachi stopping Shisui he panicked and Shisui fled the village and with his body flicker technique no one could catch him at the time_

 _With his father's end after a few years Itachi became head of the Uchiha clan_

 _Flashback end_

"Sasuke's development is going exceedingly well, he knows more techniques than I did at his age and he's learning the essence of teamwork" said Itachi calmly

"And now that we know the development of the nine we can all agree that if these were war times they would have already been chunin" said Homura

"But we are not in war" retorted Inoichi

"Agreed but I think we all can agree that us having no ally isn't good in this time of peace, even Suna our neighbors look to be more hostile towards us" said Koharu

"We all agree that tension has not alleviated the five countries but us putting a new elite group will only entice them" said Choza

"We need to be prepared for the inevitable and us being caught with our hands behind our backs is not the way" said Homura

"Alright!" said Hiruzen shutting everybody up "We all see the benefit of such a group but the first question is are these nine genin ready for that kind of pressure"

"Excuse me hokage-sama" said itachi "But I think the first question should rather be if they are ready at all, maybe a Naruto and Sasuke are ready but what about the other seven"

"What are you suggesting?" asked Hiruzen

"How about we bring this conversation up again after the second stage of the chunin exams, then we have a month in between to gauge their strength based off their performance in the exams" said Itachi "Even if they all don't make the third exam we can have a good gauge of them against other genin"

"Is everyone fine with that plan" said Hiruzen

The clan heads seemed fine with it, the civilians seemed okay with it while the council seemed hesitant

"And what then if they perform well do we make it official and not then we don't seem awfully simple to me" said Homura

"I feel that there performances will have a change on everyones opinion and that will help in the decision, it's only sensible to scout them ourselves, I might say it's okay for Sasuke but I might not say the same about Hinata so to see all of them will be beneficial" said Itachi

"Alright we'll do it your way Itachi, we'll meet back here once the 2nd part of the exam is over, try not to tell the genin of the group as the pressure beforehand will not be beneficial, dismissed" said the Third hokage

* * *

Shikamaru: son of Shikaku and Yoshino Nara, a lazy yet intelligent ninja he likes to stay back part in relation to his laziness but also due to his eye to detail to go with his high level planning. Shikamaru's closest friends are Choji, Ino, Naruto and Kiba as they all grew to like the guy he's become and can see his inner genius. He's lazy but will do his job, he doesn't like thrusting responsibilities of things he can do himself to others, he doesn't like to lead but will always chime in. A tactician whose known to make good use of his pieces

Asuma: He's lazy but if he isn't the smartest person in Konoha then it his dad is the only one above him. I can see him lead a team from behind as his skillset doesn't encourage being up front but based on the shinobi around him determines how good he can be Potential skill level: jonin

Ino: The lazy kid, I really don't know how he's so laid back a lot of time it's actually really frustrating but he's like a brother, it weird since we were born a day apart with him being a day before me I literally have known him all my life, so I'll stick by him since someone has to make him get off his butt since I know Asuma-sensei and Naruto won't do it potential skill level: jonin but he'll settle for chunin

Naruto: Shikamaru's awesome it kinda makes me jealous of how smart he is. To be able to plan ahead like that is so cool. He's like my third bestfriend (don't tell Sasuke and Hinata they have competition). So having him right behind me in battle is relaxing so I know that if I get too excited he's there with a level head. Potential skill level: jonin commander just like his dad


	6. Ch6: Survival Examination

Chunin exams

The last month was weird for team 10, Asuma instructed his team to work on their individual skills to prepare for the exams as they had unbelievable teamwork for a fresh new team

Team 10 gets along smoothly as they understand their roles personalities strengths and weaknesses already

While other teams have a struggle to get along like team 8 with their mashing personalities or their egos like team 7

It's not like team 10 doesn't see each other they still go out to eat, hang out and go on the occasional D-rank but they don't train together whether it's through their teamwork or actual techniques and jutsus

Asuma wanted them to focus on growing separately so they can be stronger together, while as other sensei's would want them to grow together. He checks in on all of them since as their sensei he needs to be supervising at least some of their training, and they really surprised him in their progress

Naruto Ino and Shikamaru headed to the building where the exams were being held they decided to be quiet to not draw attention, Naruto even wore a hooded version of the outfit he usually wears so his bright hair won't draw attention to them, Ino already had the mind transmission up so they can still communicate as they were headed to the where everyone was surrounding and then they saw team 7 causing commotion… well mostly Sasuke

"You have a genjutsu on the sign let us pass!" said Sasuke which made the two chunin bodyguards only smirk and shake their heads

"Go on through" said one of the bodyguards as he let Sasuke, team 7, and everyone else who was confused by the genjutsu

'Idiot!' thought Shikamaru

'Why is that Shika?' thought Ino

'He just added more competition by exposing the genjutsu' thought Shikamaru

'That means…' thought Ino

'The exams have already started, let's go' thought Naruto

* * *

They entered the room which was already filled with teams, they already spotted out the other rookies and decided to gravitate towards them

"Hey it looks like all the rookies are here!" said Kiba as he and the rest of team 8 approached them with team 7 close behind

As they all made light conversation Naruto and Sasuke were talking to each other separately

"Any other teams to look out for other than that sand team?" asked Naruto

"Three more but they don't feel the same as that Gaara guy" said Sasuke "The kiri team with the blue haired boy and the guy that looks like a girl is one, the guy that looks like a girl is Haku and he was the apprentice that we ran into on our A-rank so it looks like they rejoin kiri and have him listed as a genin but he's easily chunin strength, me and Shino couldn't take him down until Hinata told him and Zabuza about how Kiri's civil war is over thanks by the way"

"No problem so he's the one that uses ice style alright anyone else to look out for"

"The Kumo team over there and an Iwa team near us" said Sasuke as he made eye movement to indicate who he was talking about

"That Kumo team is the only Kumo team to have swords so they must be advanced in at least that way" said Naruto

"Yeah and that Iwa team has the daughter of the Tsuchikage and a mysterious white haired guy who I can't get a read on" said Sasuke

"So they sent their most promising Iwa team to show Konoha up as they are only one of three Iwa teams here"

As that was happening a guy with silver hair was approaching the rookies

"Hey guys you should be more quiet they don't like rookies here in these exams" said the man who had approached the group of nine

"And who are you?" asked Kiba

'Who is he Naruto?' asked Shikamaru through the mind transmission

'I don't know' thought Naruto

'I thought you knew almost all shinobi our age and up and he's clearly older than us' thought Ino

'Yeah but let's find out, Shikamaru talk to him to see what he's up to me and Sasuke are heading your way' thought Naruto as he motioned Sasuke over to where the man was and they headed that way

"Im Kabuto and I've taken this exam 7 times already so I thought I would share some wisdom to the rookies" said Kabuto

"You must be quite inadequate to take these exams that many times" said the Sasuke as he and Naruto took their place upfront

"Well since the exams are bi-yearly meaning this is my fourth year and I know my first two years I was nowhere near ready as I was the past two years" said Kabuto "Since I've been going to these exams many years I have a lot of info on other ninjas in Konoha and other villages"

"Okay Rock Lee of Konoha" said Shino as he saw him and Sasuke fought him and he was extremely skilled

"Rock Lee 13 years old 2nd year as a genin extremely gifted in taijutsu and also first chunin exam not much known other than that" said Kabuto

"Gaara of the Sand" said Sasuke

"Gaara is 12 years old also a rookie, gifted in ninjutsu and is competing with his two siblings, not much known except for the fact he has never had scratch on him during a mission" said Kabuto

"Okay Naruto Namikaze!" said Kiba really interested on what it says on one of his friends and rivals

"Okay Naruto Nam-"

"I got a better one Kabuto how about yourself it would be wrong to not have info on yourself" said Ino noticing he was saying Naruto's name louder than the others

'Thanks Ino' thought Naruto

"Well-"

As soon as Kabuto started talking some sound ninja caused a commotion but luckily as soon as it started the proctor interrupted by yelling and asserting his dominance over the genin

"I am Ibiki Morino and the proctor for the first part of the exam enter your seats where the Chunin tells you

* * *

All the genin took their seats as instructed, Shikamaru was in the back near Shino, Ino was on the right middle near Kabuto, Kiba, and Kankuro, while Naruto was near the middle around Choji and Gaara and awkwardly sitting next to Haku, the white haired Iwa genin, and in front of Gaara, the tension was very high in that section and some of the other genin were sweating from the intimidation

Ibiki reached the front of the room to announce the rules of the first part

"The first exam is a written exam-" Ibiki started until he and everyone else heard a loud thud which they all turned to Naruto who had banged his head against the desk

'WHY! Why is there a written test here I thought I was done with all that' thought Naruto

'It's okay Naruto we'll help you this time' thought Shikamaru

'Shika?! Oh Ino's jutsu is still up cool!' thought Naruto

Ibiki had continued talking as they were communicating, the exam was ten questions with the tenth question being told later, they had 30 minutes to finish the other nine, if they get caught cheating more than two times then them and their team will be eliminated, their tests were cumulative amongst their teams so they need to average over half right and if one fails they all fail and the test is taken into consideration of the whole exam so getting six out of ten right is not ideal if shinobi don't do good on the other parts

"Begin!" stated Ibiki

'So they want us to cheat' concluded Shikamaru as took a look at his test

'How you get that idea?' thought Ino

'They say if we get caught cheating more than two times were eliminated why wouldn't they say if we cheat at all' thought Shikamaru

'Oh okay' thought Ino understanding it now

'I know about 4 of these already but their tough only people like Sakura would really know the answers to all of these' thought Shikamaru

'Alright let's do those first then worry about the others and even then six out of nine is still passing' concluded Naruto

As it was unclear if team 10's telepathy was counted as cheating or not since it was already up before the exam started and didn't knew if the chunin around the room could tell if they were communicating or not so they tried to play it safe

Other genin were cheating too, Sasuke was using his sharingan, Hinata using her byakugan, Shino was using his insects, Kiba was using Akamaru and more genin were using other various ways

Naruto could see that the Haku guy next to him had created a small ice mirror to look off of, and Gaara made an eye in the sky, so everyone had a way to cheat, it wasn't long until the 30 minutes were over

Many teams were eliminated but it wasn't anything too drastic you could tell that some people were content with bad scores

'Okay we have four we need at least two more to be average, how are we to do that?' thought Ino as she finished her fourth question

'My skills would make it too obvious since if I control someone I can't shut them up' thought Shikamaru

'And I don't know who to use my mind transfer on to get the right answer since everyone's answers should be different and no telling who's correct' thought Ino

'Then they have to have someone who knows the right answer' thought Naruto

"What do you mean?' thought Ino

'He's right if the purpose is to cheat then there's is no purpose to cheat off of each other since there's a possibility that no one knows one answer so someone in this room must know all the answers' thought Shikamaru

'Like a plant?!' thought Ino

'Yeah, so find someone who's confident in their answers and isn't using any sort of technique to cheat that also isn't an idiot he should be calm not rushing but not going too slow either' thought Naruto as he and the others secretly scanned the room

'I think I found him and I can see the answers clearly since it doesn't look like he's trying to hide them' thought Naruto

'Good that sounds right read them back to us' thought Shikamaru

Naruto was only able to read around three of the answers as the rest were out of his view thanks to people's head and shoulders meaning assuming all the answers were right they all had 7/9 while waiting on the tenth question they each tried working through the other two separately but had no luck, Shikamaru put his best educated guess, Ino just guessed while Naruto gave up on trying to answer them which he was content with

"Alright here's the tenth question: if you take it and get it wrong you and your team can no longer take the chunin exams ever again in any village" said Ibiki

Many of the genin were furious, yelling, complaining, cursing but it didn't matter to Ibiki or the chunin in the room

"However if you don't want to risk it you may leave and take it at a later exam but your teammates have to leave with you" said Ibiki which quieted everyone else down

Many teams were leaving more than teams being eliminated from cheating

'Let me know if any of our friends are getting temptations I can't see any of them from here as everyone around me is staying put' thought Naruto

'Well you better think of something I see Sakura and Choji debating over it' thought Ino

'I also see Hinata debating it also' added Shikamaru

'Okay' thought Naruto as he thinks he came up with an idea

Naruto stood up drawing all attention to him "I'm not giving up, and I don't run away! Taking the easy way out is not the best way to move on in life, so I'll take the risk of being a genin forever, I know that doesn't interfere with my dream and goals so go ahead give me the tenth question and let's see what happens all I know is that whoever's left is ready to take the risks just like me and those are the ones who are ready!" said Naruto as his speech motivated Hinata and Choji from giving up and Sakura not to worry about affecting her teammates

"But you'll be a genin the rest of your life" added Ibiki

"I don't care if I'm genin forever, I'll just be the first genin to go on S-rank missions, genin just a rank not a measure of one's skills" countered Naruto

"Alright is anyone else leaving… no?! Alright you all pass" said Ibiki which caused a lot of confusion among the genin

"The tenth question was just a scare tactic, as chunin you have to take risks and this was a way to show if you were ready to take the risks associated with the job"

Some genin understood but others didn't

"The other nine questions are still important as they are to test your intelligence and information gathering" said Ibiki "We had chunin disguised as genin who knew the correct answers since you can't trust your enemy and misinformation is worse than no information"

Makes sense as staying at square one is better than taking a step back, many genin were pleased to see that they passed the first test even going as far as doing mini celebrations

As Ibiki finished his closing statement smoke appeared out of nowhere and a purple haired woman appeared

"I'm Anko Mitarashi and let's go to the second exam!" Said Anko as she made her entrance but then paused to count the genin "Ibiki this is way too many genin"

"Sorry we have a good group here and besides most of them stayed because of that one" Ibiki said as he pointed to Naruto

Meanwhile as Anko was looking Naruto was trying to hide himself in his hood

"NARUTO NAMIKAZE! You better say hi to me" said Anko as she approached him and took off his hood

"Hi Anko…" Naruto sweat dropped

Meanwhile many of the genin were whispering amongst each other as now the son of the fourth Hokage has now been revealed

"Well there goes his plan to hide himself for as long as possible" said Shikamaru

"Why did Naruto want to hide himself" asked Shino as the people surrounding them have been eliminated

"So we won't be a target for many teams" responded Shikamaru

"I see"

"Yeah apparently a lot of genin came just because of Naruto and Sasuke, the son of the fourth Hokage and first the Uchiha prodigy ever since his brother"

"Yeah and that would mean a lot of pressure and adversity for our teams" said Shino as he watched how many of the genin's attention had shifted to Naruto who was being bothered by Anko

"Alright I'm the second proctor of this exam I will give the information on where to go to your team leader meet their first thing in the morning you're dismissed" said Anko

As team 10 were headed out the building Naruto was stopped, it was Haku

"Nice to meet you Naruto I'm Haku" said Haku as he presented his hand to shake

"Hey Haku, You're the one from Sasuke and Hinata's mission right?" said Naruto as he shook Haku's hand

"Yes, I would like to thank you as I have heard you are the one that gave Hinata the information about Kiri" said Haku

"Oh no problem I'm glad that it all worked out" said Naruto as he remembered the scroll he had lent Hinata which contained information and news about Kiri

"And as thanks I would like to let you know to watch out as I'm strong" said Haku "I've been told that I'm here to show the strength of Kiri as like you say my skill surpasses my rank"

"Oh yeah well don't count out Konoha were strong too" said Naruto as he and team 10 walked off

* * *

Next day

All the remaining teams arrived in front of the forest of death with Anko explaining the rules

It was simple each team would get a heaven or earth scroll, the challenge was to get the opposite scroll and make it to the destination within five days with both Scrolls no killing was allowed but just in case Anko had everyone sign waivers

"Alright those are the rules have one-member head over to the desk to get your scroll and gate assignment" said Anko

As everyone went to their gates team 10 were discussing their plan

"Alright who holds the scroll?" asked Naruto

"Well you would be too obvious since you're the strongest" said Ino

"But we're also obvious since we're weaker" added Shikamaru

"How about we keep switching" Naruto suggested

"Alright that's fine"

To add safety Naruto sealed the earth scroll in a regular scroll and gave possession to Ino for first possession

"Alright Naruto in front me and Ino will be on your sides" said Shikamaru "That way you will challenge anyone first"

The chunin who was guarding team 10's gate moved aside signaling the start of the second exam, and as he moved team 10 leapt into the trees

As they were leaping from branch to branch they were quietly discussing their plan

"So you want to steadily make our way towards the destination and if we don't have a scroll by then we have to camp and ambush another team" said Ino

"Yeah there's no need to search out teams since Naruto already gave us an unnecessary target on our backs, so we should just worry about surviving" said Shikamaru

"Yeah I didn't intend on letting people know who I was until the final part but Anko had to go and ruin it" said Naruto

"What is your relationship with her you seem to know her pretty well" said Ino

"Well my dad was trained by Jiraiya of the Sannin, while Tsunade trained Shizune and Orochimaru trained Anko, so they were all linked to each other despite the age difference, so since I'm also trained by uncle Jiraiya I now fall into that group so we see each other constantly" said Naruto

"Except for Orochimaru" added Shikamaru

"Except for Orochimaru" confirmed Naruto "So because of that connection Shizune and Anko act like big sisters while Tsunade acts like my aunt"

"That's a nice relationship to have" said Ino

"Yeah I mean wouldn't it be nice if you can have Asuma-sensei as a guardian for our kids and we can be older siblings to his" said Naruto trying to compare the relationship to team 10

"Yeah I see what you mean it's like with me Shika's and Choji's clans there so close it's not strange to stay with each other overnight or something since the relationship is so deep" said Ino

"Yeah it would be nice to know you can't count on more people" said Shikamaru

And before they knew it shuriken were headed towards them around fifty of them, but for no use as team 10 dodged them all by heading to a clearing to meet the opposing team

And as they landed the opposing team landed revealing to be the Kumo team Sasuke had mentioned to Naruto earlier, it was two boys and a girl a typical team, however two of them had swords on their backs, not tantos but real swords meaning they're trained well enough to use a full sword

"Well it seems the son of the yellow flash can dodge but for how long!" said the female as she charged towards team 10

'Hothead...' thought Shikamaru as Ino and Naruto could only agree

'I'll engage remember no need to use ninjutsu as we need to conserve for a few days, cover me if things start to look bad' thought Naruto as he withdrew a kunai to engage the female Kumo nin

The two nin met in a clash as they struggled using their strength to gain dominance, Naruto let out a slight smirk as he began to lose strength and balance and begin to fall over, the sudden switch shocked the female as she fell over as well, Naruto then bent his legs to proceed to kick the girl up in the air, as Naruto got up to prepare the follow up he was engaged by the male with the sword who made him back up with a downward strike the swordsman had tried, as he backed up the female came down and tried a similar downward strike which just made Naruto back jump again but this time the male swordsman use his female teammate as a balance as he used her back to hold himself up as he propelled himself for a kick which made Naruto block and get pushed back a little bit, he was then barraged by the two swordsman who were fighting perfectly in sync, the female was more aggressive while the male was more passive

'Guys!' thought Naruto as he found himself in a tight situation, which was accurate as he saw a fireball headed his way coming from the third teammate and the two swordsman were chasing him down leaving not a lot of room

Ino sent out shuriken to divide the swordsmen up which allowed Naruto to dodge the fireball

'Divide and conquer!' thought Shikamaru as he went through hand signs preparing his jutsu

Ino went to engage the fire user in the back who proceed to start retreating from her, as Shikamaru sent his shadow towards the unsuspecting female swordsman successfully possessing her, leaving Naruto all alone with the male swordsmen

"Karui!' said the surprised male swordsman as he saw his teammate was no longer moving

"I'm fine Omoi this one's a Nara just handle the yellow flash's son on your own until the Nara's control loosen"

"I have a name you know" commented Naruto

"We know Naruto but she's being hard headed by referring to you as that" said Omoi

Omoi had short spiky white hair, dark skin and a lollipop in his mouth, Karui was a redheaded girl with yellow eyes and similar dark skin, and the third teammate was a brunette with a strange hat on as his forehead protector

'Shikamaru feel around to see if she has a scroll on her' thought Ino

'Already on it and... she doesn't have it' thought Shikamaru

'It's probably your guy Ino since he running away from you, I'll stay on this guy until proven otherwise' thought Naruto

'Hurry up don't know how long I can hold this on her' thought Shikamaru

Naruto engaged Omoi who had a more passive style as he was mostly dodging and blocking

'I got get rid of that sword… Got it!'

Naruto sped up his combat speed throwing Omoi off at the increase in speed as he was struggling to defend and stopped attacking altogether, Naruto went for a leg sweep but Omoi jumped over it, however Naruto used the motion to transition into a backflip which kicked Omoi's hand making him drop his sword, Naruto caught it and pointed at Omoi's neck

"Okay you got me" said Omoi as he put his hands up in defeat

"Who has the scroll?" asked Naruto as he motioned Omoi up against a tree and Shikamaru was following suit with Karui as he was still possessing her

"Junior does" said Karui talking about the third teammate who was still running from Ino

Shikamaru tied up Omoi and Karui to a tree as Naruto went to assist Ino

"What's the problem Ino?" said Naruto as he found that Junior was surrounded by earth walls blocking him off from others

"I can't break those earth walls" said a frustrated Ino

"Use the thunder sword" suggested Naruto

"Why?"

"Lightning beats earth so that should easily pierce the wall" said Naruto

Ino took out the sword of the thunder god hilt and activated it and easily pierced the wall and broke it apart, surprising Junior

"Alright Junior your team's defeated give us the scroll and we'll leave" said Naruto

"My name isn't junior it's Dodai I'm just named after my dad, and here" said Dodai as he presented Naruto a heaven scroll

'That was easy' thought Shikamaru as they already got the scroll they were looking for

"Pleasure fighting you!" said Naruto as he and team 10 leapt away

"He didn't seem that strong" commented Dodai as he untied Karui and Omoi

"He didn't use any ninjutsu against us" said Karui

"And didn't go full speed against me" added Omoi 'We're screwed'

* * *

As they were leaping away and Naruto was explaining to Ino about the chakra nature's, Shikamaru brought something up

"I never did ask but did you ever find a way to contact team 7 and 8" asked Shikamaru

"I did" said Naruto as he took out his earbud "I gave Sasuke and Sakura each one earbud for emergencies, it will vibrate when someone is trying to get in contact"

"But what happens if Sasuke or Sakura is knocked out?" asked Ino

Naruto widen his eyes in realization that if they didn't tell their teammates like he did they would be in trouble

As soon as Naruto thought that the earbud started to vibrate, Naruto put it in his ear and immediately answered

"H-Hello!?" said a voice

"Yes it's Naruto!" said Naruto

"Naruto-kun! Thank goodness My team needs help" said the voice

"Hinata! Where are you and what happened?" asked Naruto

"We're near the east side of the forest and both Sasuke and Shino are unconscious, Lee just got here but it's still two against three" said Hinata

"Alright we're on our way" said Naruto as he and team 10 leapt east

"I wonder how Sasuke and Shino got rendered unconscious?" wondered Shikamaru

"Doesn't matter our friends need our help and they're probably up against a decent team if Hinata not strong enough to hold her own" said Naruto

"No question but who in this exam is really that strong to knock out Sasuke as well as Shino" wondered Ino

"More than we thought" concluded Shikamaru as the three kept dashing over to the east

* * *

Meanwhile

Team 8 were in a state of shock as they just witnessed a Gaara massacre with their own eyes, they were so terrified that they didn't feel or hear Sakura's earbud vibrating

"I think we can all agree for once to stay away from them" said Sakura

"No question" said Choji

"Right" said Kiba as Akamaru barked in agreement

* * *

Team 10 had finally made it to the area where team 7 was at they made it in time to see Lee do his primary lotus on his opponent, and also to see the opponent's teammate save him while Lee's opponent also made Lee kneel over from seemingly nothing

"How did that guy damage Lee without making good contact I know Lee's much stronger than that poor excuse of a punch" said Naruto as he and team 7 were observing their opponent before jumping in

"Sound!" realized Shikamaru "The sound village must use types of sounds in their attacks and that must be the village that Eui said he was staying at and where he got his boomerang"

"So they all must have a type of sound based attack and that one guy must have a frequency that can make them feel pain and nausea" said Ino as she sees Lee holding his ear

"Naruto you have any more of those earplugs?" asked Shikamaru

"Yeah I have two more pair but that's not enough for Hinata and Lee" said Naruto

"That's fine, Ino extend the transmission to Hinata and-" said Shikamaru as they watched Lee fall over rendering him unconscious "to Hinata so we all can communicate"

"Alright I'll go first you all hide" said Naruto as he leapt down into the clearing

Naruto landed in front of Hinata and Lee and casually put his hands in his pockets 'Hinata everything okay?' thought Naruto

'Yeah just got to get used to Ino's jutsu' thought Hinata as she shook her head to get used to the feeling

'Me Shika and Ino are wearing earplugs so we can't hear them or you out loud and we don't have enough for you so if they say something tell us since we can't read lips' thought Naruto

'Okay, Dosu just knocked Lee out with the device on his right arm, and Zaku has air ducts on his hands which is how he saved Dosu by making the ground softer, I don't know what the girl does' thought Hinata

"Alright I'll handle them and while I do that tell us how your team got this way' thought Naruto as he cracked his knuckles

Naruto first went for the girl named Kin to immediately scout out what she does, he immediately engaged her in taijutsu but he went at a faster speed than which he did against Omoi which she couldn't handle after a few punched he put her in a headlock to threaten her teammates

'Shika!' thought Naruto as he was in front of the bush that Shikamaru and Ino were hiding behind

'Shadow possession jutsu' Shikamaru shadows enveloped Naruto and Kin but loosen it enough for Naruto to escape

"Dosu! Zaku! He's not alone!" said Kin as she was unable to move but still talk

Naruto knew she was talking but ignored and blitzed pass Dosu and headed for Zaku, the speed got Zaku off guard as he got kicked with a front kick lifting him off the ground slightly, Naruto followed that off with an another kick which was block but the momentum was still there as Zaku was knocked into a tree, Naruto wasn't done however as he immediately got ninja wire to tied Zaku's arms up together

Naruto went to look for Dosu only to see he was making his way towards Hinata, Hinata who was too tired from her previous encounter didn't have the energy to block, Naruto saw this and rushed to help, he however couldn't get there in time to prevent the attack but he was there to block the right handed punch from Dosu with his forearm

Team 7 and Hinata were then surprised when they started to see Naruto bleed from his ears and look nauseated

'You think my Resonating Echo speaker is only a sound based weapon then you would be wrong it's also a vibration weapon and right now it's sending a vibration through your insides that would give you a very bad experience" said Dosu as he brought back his arm to see Naruto kneel over in pain and nausea with Hinata to support him

"Now just hand us the Uchiha and we'll leave" said Dosu as he was saying this Shikamaru's jutsu was weakening and Zaku was finding a way out the wires

Naruto with one last push stood up and placed his hand on Dosu chest and readied his jutsu "Back off! Wind style: blow away!" said Naruto as a strong gust of wind emerged from his hand blowing Dosu all the way back with his teammates, Shikamaru saw this and decided to emerge from the bush by throwing his body out which also threw Kin's body which collided with Dosu's flying body which ended the shadow possession

Shikamaru and Ino made their way over to Hinata and Naruto, Naruto was now using Shikamaru as support, as they regrouped Zaku finally got of the wires and was pissed

"You think it's that easy to defeat me!" said Zaku as he pointed his hands towards the group "Decapitating Airwaves!"

A huge air wave came towards the group, thinking quickly Naruto pushed the three out the way and took the blow of the attack which knocked him into the tree that Shino and Sasuke were in, which was a mistake as with that Sasuke started to wake up but this time a foul chakra surrounded him

Everyone paused to noticed the chakra including Zaku which resulted in Naruto collapsing as at that point only thing keeping him up was the airwaves

Sasuke emerged from the tree with strange fire like markings on the left side of his face and arm, his sharingan was active but he wasn't saying a word, he looked around to grasp the situation, he saw Lee collapsed unconscious on the ground, an exhausted Hinata who looked even more damaged than before and his best friend on his knees looking like he's about to vomit

"Who did this?!" asked the Uchiha to no one in particular

No one knew how to answer him in this state except one

"I did!' said Zaku a little to excitedly "Watch!"

Zaku did another airwave directed only at Naruto, the airwave knocked Naruto back into a nearby tree as he didn't have time to defend himself

Sasuke saw this and was pissed, in a blink of an eye he was right next to Zaku gripping both of his hands in anger "It seems you value these arms a lot" Sasuke brought the hands behind Zaku by stretching the arms backwards, he made Zaku kneel as he put on foot on Zaku's back making his arms stretch even further

Everyone saw this and was shocked by the level of violence Sasuke was displaying they had trouble gathering words but luckily Ino could

"Sasuke stop this!" said Ino

"Why? They hurt Naruto and Hinata I should only return the favor" said Sasuke as he kept torturing Zaku

"We already had the advantage it was four against one" said Ino

"You call that four against one!" said Sasuke referring to Hinata and Naruto

"Naruto already beat the other two we all just got caught off guard" explained Ino

During that exchange Naruto had taken a pill to get over his nausea and seemed more or less good, he saw what Sasuke was doing but paid it no mind, he quietly made his way over to Dosu and Kin to see if they had the scroll which Dosu did, he saw it was an earth scroll the one team 7 had needed as he saw that Hinata had a heaven scroll on her since she couldn't leave it with two unconscious teammates

Naruto tossed the earth scroll Sasuke's way and with Sasuke's reflexes he let go of Zaku's arm and caught it effortlessly "You won Sasuke let him go they need to try to find two scrolls now while we can go and get rested up" said Naruto as he put a hand on Sasuke's shoulder, Sasuke started to calm down as the markings on his face and arm began to retract back to his neck

"Besides you're going to need your energy later trust me" said Naruto as he body flickered with Sasuke to their teams

* * *

Lee was picked up by his teammates Neji and Tenten and they went their separate ways, while Sasuke and Hinata decided to wait for Shino to wake up as they didn't want to carry him, and Team 10 headed to their destination

"That could have gone better" commented Shikamaru

"Yeah but hey at least were done in the first day" said Naruto to lighten the mood

"Right and we can get four days of R&R" said Ino

Team 10 got there with no further distractions and interruptions, it took them a second but they realize they had to open both scrolls at the same time to move on, the scroll they had released Iruka who congratulated them for passing the second exam with the third fastest time ever

"Who has the fastest time?" asked Ino

"Well the second fastest was by the sannin back when they took the exam" said Iruka "But the fastest time had just been broken by the Suna team with the siblings"

"Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro" added Naruto

"Yeah that's the one they were here about three hours ago" said Iruka "Anyways go on upstairs and you should meet up with your sensei"

Team 10 followed suit they arrived to see that they were somehow one of the first teams to arrive, they were guided to a room by one of the chunin to rest and wait until the second exam was over, they were soon greeted by Asuma

"Well looks like I did something right seeing as you all got here in record time" said Asuma

"Yeah we could have got here faster" said Shikamaru

"What do you mean?" questioned Asuma

"Well we made a truce with team 7 and 8 and I gave Sasuke and Sakura earbuds to communicate with" said Naruto "After we got our second scroll Hinata got in contact with us and was saying how both Sasuke and Shino were knocked out by this fake Kusa ninja"

"Fake Kusa ninja?"

"Yeah she was saying how the person's skin peeled off to reveal someone else, and she had summoned a giant snake to take out Shino while her and Sasuke handled the ninja" said Ino

"Later on Shino somehow beat the snake but was out of chakra and collapsed when he finally made it back to them, and during their fight the ninja bit Sasuke and left a mark or seal on his neck which knocked him out then the ninja fled" said Shikamaru

"And to me it all points signs to Orochimaru, the ninja that tried getting Sasuke and attacking Hinata later were sound ninja who were specifically after Sasuke and not Hinata" said Naruto "The seal look like the curse mark Anko has and snakes are a rare summon"

"I hate to agree, I'll let Anko, the Hokage and all the other Jonin but we can't speculate that Orochimaru has ties with the sound village yet" said Asuma

"Yeah they all or most as we never saw the girl's technique but the two used sound based attacks so we think there's a connection between them and Eui" said Shikamaru

"The sound based weapons being in the sound village isn't an impossibility if anything it strengthens but we didn't get much info from Eui when we interrogated him so we have no idea if he was talking about Oto but I'll run it by Ibiki" said Asuma "But don't worry about that stuff rest up and I'll be right back"

As Asuma walked out the room he immediately greeted by Kakashi "You overheard?" asked Asuma as he calmly got a cigarette out his pack and began to light it

"Yeah I'll have to see Sasuke myself to confirm if it's really a curse mark since that right there means Orochimaru is in the village but I won't be able to do much with Jiraiya out the village" said Kakashi

"Out of all times for him to be out" sighed Asuma as he kept smoking his cigarette "With my father's old age Jiraiya is the strongest in the village and we need him here"

"Hm, I'll go tell Anko to discreetly search the forest of death while you spread the word to the other Jonin, then I'll go tell the Hokage myself" said Kakashi

"Right" said Asuma as they both body flickered away


	7. Ch7: I Watched All the Way

Chunin Exams continued...

* * *

It was the final day all the teams that made it on the last day were given the morning to rest but they were all called down for something important

But Naruto was in no rush he was calmly sitting on his bed writing seals he was working on, as he was working Shikamaru was napping as this was one of his favorite past times, Ino was getting ready making sure she had everything ready

"Alright shurikens, kunai, wires, explosive tags… Anything I'm missing" said Ino out loud to no one in particular

"Sword" calmly said Naruto as he crumbled up a piece of paper that he messed up on

"Got it" said Ino as she patted it which was clipped to her headband which she uses as a belt "How your tags coming you think we might be able to use them soon?"

"The wind variant is probably the safest but the others are not ready yet as I need to test them outside" said Naruto

"I still don't understand how you do this" commented Ino

"Its simple I use the explosive tags as a basis since explosions are fires in basic concept so I remove the fire element in the tag and write a wind equivalent in their place to make a different effect but I have to take in effect the timed portion of it which is the tricky part and-" Naruto started until Ino put her hand over his mouth to have him stop talking

"What?!" said Ino

"He switches fire with wind in the explosive tag" said Shikamaru who was finally done napping that and Ino's voice was loud

"Oh!" said Ino "why didn't you say so?"

"I did!" said Naruto

"Whatever, we should get down we don't want to be the last one there" said Ino as she made her way to the door

Shikamaru and Naruto followed suit

They made their way down with all the other teams their was ten teams in total equaling a total of 30 genin pass

The third Hokage was explaining the purpose of the exams most of which team 10 already knew thanks to Asuma but they still paid attention to show respect

When the third hokage finished a jonin named Hayate stepped up to explain the 3rd exam

"Seeing as we have too many genin we are going to have a preliminary round to help eliminate more genin but before we get into that is there anyone who would like to forfeit before I continue" said Hayate with a few coughs in between

The only ninja that forfeit were Dodai who had a very visual broken arm as it was in a cast already and Kabuto who claimed he wasted too much chakra

"With those two gone we still have 28 genin so we're going to have a series of one on one matches where the winner moves on to the final exam" said Hayate with a couple coughs

"The screen above will select from randomize names and pair up two of you to fight, the fight is over when one side admit defeat or when I declare it's over" said Hayate

The third Hokage decided to step up to add a couple details

"As recognition of the many genin that have made it to this point you will get your credit amongst your villages for this preliminary round as with the other two in your consideration to become chunin, we have many ways to let your villages know of your progress in this exam one example are your sensei's" said Hiruzen

"Alright with that we will start immediately as soon as the first two are chosen the rest go up the stairs and await your turn" said Hayate as he gestured to the screen which was rotating quickly through names "Temari and Tenten stay down everyone else up!"

Once everyone made it up Hayate started the fight, Tenten immediately started by throwing shuriken but it just seem to fly right off of Temari

"Wind" said Naruto as he was commenting on the fight

"What do you mean wind Naruto?" asked Lee

Neji activated his Byakugan "I see Temari is using wind chakra to shield herself from the attacks" said Neji "Tenten aim isn't off she just blocking them"

As they were discussing this Tenten started to use her rising twin dragons jutsu after seeing that regular kunai and shuriken weren't working, as soon she started to throw all her weapons Temari grabbed her fan

"Second moon" said Temari as she opened her fan to show two circles on it as she blew all of Tenten's weapons back at her

As Tenten landed with a lot of cuts on her she made a quick glance at her team, Neji was stoic as usual, Lee was cheering her on and Gai was doing his standard thumbs up pose yeah she was stuck with a bunch of taijutsu experts

'Taijutsu! Let's see if all those ridiculous training methods were put to use' thought Tenten

Tenten charged Temari as she picked up a staff she had on the ground and proceeded to engage her in kenjutsu and taijutsu, Tenten started twirling her staff to help hide her movements, Temari was trying to anticipate the move but couldn't fully, as subsequent clashes led to Tenten using the staff as a balance to kick Temari back but Temari didn't take much damage

Tenten was more than holding her own as she was getting good hits in but Temari was no foreigner too taijutsu as she closed her fan to use as a close range weapon, Temari managed to push Tenten back but Tenten wasn't done she picked up twin swords and went back to engage in close range combat, this time Temari was more of the defensive as swords are more dangerous than a staff

Temari started to grow a little nervous as Tenten was extremely good up close she would need to create distance again, she saw all the weapons on the ground and came up with an idea, she managed to push Tenten back enough to create enough space for her to use wind style

"It's over!" said Temari as she opened her fan to show all three circles on her fan, she uses her fan to engulf Tenten in a small cyclone but Tenten's weapons were being drawn into the cyclone scratching up Tenten with numerous cuts, the cuts grew too much for tenten as she passed out in mid air and landed on the ground roughly

"Tenten is unable to fight Temari wins" said Hayate

Lee jumped down to take Tenten to the nurse himself as Temari made her way back to her team

"The next match is...:" said Hayate as everyone looks towards the monitor "Omoi vs Chojuro"

The two made their way down to the arena and prepared to face off, Omoi got his sword ready while Chojuro looked nervous as he entered a basic fighting stance

Chojuro was a blue haired teen that wore glasses and wore a kiri inspired outfit with his forehead protector on his chest

"He looks nervous" commented Naruto

"He does, and he doesn't seem comfortable in that form" said Shikamaru

"Maybe he's more of a support shinobi" said Ino

Meanwhile overhearing the comments about two teams away, a white haired ninja on the kiri team started to loudly laugh

"Suigetsu control yourself" said Haku

"Sorry but Chojuro is not weak he's...never mind you'll find out" said Suigetsu as he was getting a look from Haku

Ino looked annoyed by the Suigetsu, Shikamaru ignored him and Naruto grew excited hoping for a good fight

"Begin!" said Hayate

Chojuro immediately jumped back to create distance, he went into his ninja pouch to pull out a special blue scroll, he tossed it up in the air to unseal it and as it unsealed a sword came down but not just any sword but Hiramekarei of the seven mist swordsman

"Whoa he's part of the seven mist swordsman" said Naruto

"Yeah I didn't know someone so young could be part of them" said Sasuke

"Yeah I heard there supposed to be an elite group so he must be good" said Sakura

The rookies teams were all next to each other with team 10 in the middle so they all could hear each other fine

Unfortunately the fight didn't last long, Chojuro made Hiramekarei into his hammer form and slammed Omoi who tried blocking into a wall knocking him out cold

"Winner Chojuro" said Hayate

Chojuro resealed his sword into the scroll and made his way back up

"He must not be strong enough to hold that sword for long instances" commented Asuma

"Why you say that sensei?" asked Naruto

"Swords of that magnitude are heavy as well as chakra taxing so it wouldn't surprise me if he keeps it sealed to save chakra and strength" said Asuma

"Next match…" said Hayate once again "Zaku vs Akatsuchi"

Akatsuchi was a big guy easily the tallest genin even taller than some jonin like kurenai and Kakashi he was also big like Choji, he had a big nose which made him distinguishable from others

"Begin!"

"Earth style: Golem jutsu!" Akatsuchi went through a few hand signs and he expelled earth from his mouth and as it finished coming out a small golem came to form, it wasn't huge it was probably around Naruto and Hinata's height

The golem was human like so it wasn't connected to Akatsuchi so it was in its own fighting pose

"Cool!" said Naruto liking the jutsu

"What's so cool about it?" questioned Sasuke

"It's like making your own partner to fight with you like a man made summon" said Naruto

Ultimately the fight didn't last long, Zaku easily blew back the golem even though it was rock it wasn't heavy enough to not get blown back, which was followed back by Akatsuchi trying a taijutsu effort which landed him a few good blows but Zaku was able to back him into a wall and knock him out with his airwaves

"Winner Zaku Abumi" said Hayate "Next fight is Kiba Inuzuka vs Misumi"

Kiba howled in excitement with Akamaru joining him while Misumi calmly walked down

Again the match didn't last long, Misumi tried using his strange flexible body to try to attack Kiba but Kiba's instinct and agility were too great and he couldn't take a fang over fang from both him and his dog Akamaru resulting in Kiba's victory

"Winner Kiba Inuzuka"

"Oh thank goodness" said Kurenai

"What's wrong Kurenai sensei" asked Choji

"Nothing" she replied

"Actually me and the other Konoha jonin had made a bet and now she's safe" answered Asuma

"What was the bet?" Asked Shikamaru

"We all betted on if we can have at least one genin from our team pass then were safe from a specific punishment" said Asuma

"What the punishment?" Asked Naruto

"It's different for each of us" said Kurenai who had a blush on her face from embarrassment

"So since Kiba won Kurenai sensei is safe so if someone from each team wins then what happens" asked Sakura

"Then no one will be punished" answered Kakashi "But if the person gets more than two members there's a prize"

"Prize?" Questioned Sasuke

"You'll have to see to find out" said Kakashi

"Next match Choji vs Karui!" Said Hayate

Choji made his way down after getting cheered on by his friends and was nervous while as Karui was standing in confidence

"Why does Choji look so nervous he's not even this nervous on missions" asked Sakura

"Well if Shikamaru hates fighting girls because they're troublesome then Choji doesn't like fighting girls because he's too kind" said Naruto

"Too kind?" Questioned Sasuke

"He doesn't like fighting for no reason in general it doesn't help that he was raised to respect women so much" said Shikamaru "So him fighting a girl seriously could be a problem"

"Begin!"

Karui charged Choji with her sword but Choji didn't want that thing near him so he dodge the first slice by diving to the side and recovering with a roll but Karui wasn't letting up she prepared a stab but Choji grew his hands with the partial expansion jutsu and grabbed her and her sword and threw her out the way but it wasn't aggressive enough as she quickly recovered and made her way back to Choji he decided to meet her halfway with his human boulder which knocked her farther back than before

As she landed roughly on the ground Choji kept his momentum and prepared the final blow, in a last ditch effort Karui stocked her sword out in desperation but Choji used one hand to grab the sword and move it out the way so he can use his enlarged other hand for the blow but

He hesitated and in that hesitation she quickly flowed lightning chakra through her sword electrocuting Choji briefly and as he recovered she held the sword to his chin

"I forfeit" said Choji recognizing his defeat

"Winner Karui"

"Okay what! How did he lose that?" Said Ino

"Told you he's too kind he couldn't bring himself to hurt a girl for no reason so he hesitated and she didn't" answered Shikamaru "He did good though"

Karui helped Choji up in good sportsmanship and they made their way back up to their respective teams

"Next match Kankuro vs Shino"

Kankuro wasted no time an unveiled his puppet crow that was wrapped up on his back

Shino's insects also started to emerge and become more visible

Kankuro sent his puppet towards Shino, Shino noticed the hidden blade and managed to dodge the incoming attack

Once the blade connected with the ground he saw the poison leak onto the ground knowing to avoid it

Kankuro tried again once more but Shino avoided it again as well

Kankuro keeps trying to pin down shino but Shino managed to cover himself with a smoke bomb

Shino threw kunai at the puppet and once it connected it went up in smoke revealing to be a substitution

the puppet then came from behind preparing to strike Shino once again this time with kunai

the kunai connected only for shino to the dissolve himself into

"A bug clone, those things are annoying" commented Kankuro frustrated at the false belief of victory

Shino came from Kankuro's blind side and threw a punch but Kankuro avoided it and created distance for himself

"Not too bad, sneaking behind me" said Kankuro to his opponent

"it was simple really you fight long range making close range a good option" said Shino

"I'm just getting started" said Kankuro as his puppet revealed another hidden compartment launching a poison smoke bomb

Shino tried covering his mouth and nose before escaping but it was clear he was affected by his short of breath and kneeling on one knee

"Shino..." said Hinata worried about her teammate

"He's not done yet" reassured Sasuke

Kankuro prepared the final blow by having Crow stab him with a blade but once again Shino dissolved into bugs showing to be another insect clone

Kankuro spotted Shino and tried to make his move but Crow was not moving revealing that Shino's insects got into Crows joints and now crawling along Kankuro's chakra strings

Kankuro managed to sever his chakra strings himself, and he reinstalled them to launch his head that had a hidden blade in his mouth

But Crow seemingly stopped and fell inches from Shino

Kankuro noticed that the bugs had made his way to him as they were crawling all over his body

"How I got rid of the chakra strings!" exclaimed Kankuro

"I planted a insect on you a long time ago in this match" said Shino making Kankuro eyes widen in surprise "When I went for the punch I only pretended to miss and planted a female on your headband"

"And where did all the others come from" asked Naruto back in the stands with the others

"A female insect can release a distinct scent to attract males, it's how they usually find a mate" explained Hinata

"So Shino planted a female one to attract the rest, he's so smart that he planned that so far ahead" said Naruto

Kankuro collapsed from the chakra exhaustion from the insects eating his chakra and as Hayate was going to call the match Shino collapsed as well from the poison

"This match is a draw there will be no winner" announced Hayate as the medics went to pick up both the genin for medical attention

The next matches were Dosu vs the white haired Iwa nin revealed to be named Kimimaro which resulted in Kimimaro's victory with his pure speed that knock Dosu out without any jutsu used

Then the next match was Shikamaru vs Kin (same as canon) with Shikamaru's victory

The other match was Rock Lee vs Gaara

"Begin!"

Lee quickly dashed towards Gaara but whenever Lee threw a punch or kick Gaara had his sand block it, Lee seeing taijutsu wasn't doing a lot started to throw kunai but it was also blocked by Gaara's sand, Gaara's sand later went on the offensive and grabbed Lee by the foot and threw him against a wall, but the sand kept coming, Lee was balancing dodging the sand and still trying to land a blow on Gaara

"I don't get it it why doesn't Lee try something else, taijutsu isn't working here" said Sakura

"Um Lee-kun can't use ninjutsu or genjutsu" answered Hinata

"What!?" said a disbelieving Sakura

"It's true" said Naruto "He has no real talent for it, he can still mold chakra to use techniques like tree walking but he can't use it externally to make things like the clone jutsu"

Lee made his way up to the statue of the hand sign and with approval from Guy he took of his weights underneath his ankle warmers and drop them creating a loud boom on impact with the ground from the weight and in a blink of an eye he disappeared

Gaara like most was surprised by the sheer speed Lee was showing, he was blitzing Gaara that Gaara himself couldn't keep up with him and his sand barely could, it wasn't long until Lee finally landed a couple hits in one enough to even knock Gaara back

"So fast!" commented Choji

"How did he get so fast" said Kiba

'He's around Naruto's speed but it's clear Lee has better taijutsu' thought Shikamaru with Ino and Asuma having similar thoughts

"Naruto is he faster than you?" asked a serious Sasuke as his sharingan was active to keep up with (and copy) Lee

"I don't know" answered an honest Naruto

"How do you not know?" asked Kiba "It's an simple question"

"I think what Naruto-kun means is that we haven't seen Lee-kun's full speed yet" answered Hinata

"Wait he can go faster?!" said a surprised Sakura

Meanwhile team Guy were quietly watching with their own thoughts in their heads

'He's gotten so fast since last time I wonder if Neji could even keep up with him now' thought Tenten

'Yeah Lee keep going' though Guy as he was proud of his student

'So this is the result of your training' thought Neji

As Lee finished his barrage it was then revealed by Gaara's crumpling sand on his body that he was wearing sand armor this forced Lee to go one step further, he started to unwrap the bandages on his arms and hands as he prepared his next move

'First gate, gate of opening Open' thought Lee as he unlocked the gate

"What are you waiting for?" asked Gaara

"You'll see" said Lee

And before Gaara knew it he was kicked into the by Lee but the sand was keeping him lower as even though it was sand enough of it still has enough weight to add, Lee had to keep going so he propelled his body up by repeatedly kicking Gaara up until he was high enough for his move

"The primary lotus" said Kakashi "A technique only possible when one opens the first gate"

"Gate?" said Sasuke

"They're specific tenketsu in our chakra pathway" said Kakashi

"I can't see them" responded Sasuke

"Only the byakugan can see them Sasuke" said Naruto

"Yeah they're basically blockers that limit our bodies but once one trains hard enough they can open them" said Kakashi

"Can you open them Kakashi-sensei?" asked Hinata

"Not many can, I myself can only open the first gate, but Guy can open seven of the eight" said Kakashi

"Why can't he get the eight open is it too difficult" said Sasuke

"The eighth means death" said Guy sternly

As this was happening Lee completed the primary lotus but only to see Gaara avoided it and went back on the offensive against an exhausted Lee repeatedly hitting him with sand until Lee had gained a second wind he started dodging the sand again

"The first gate also leave the user tired" said Asuma as he saw his fellow jonin miss that point "But the second restores one's strength"

Lee later unlocked the third gate and you could see his skin turn red from the increased blood flow

"The third gate is now open" said Guy "Remember a lotus blooms twice"

'Lotus?' thought Ino until she realized something from earlier, she then looked over at Hinata who has a slight blush on her face

The next few seconds were way too fast, Lee was just beating Gaara up with his hidden lotus, unfortunately Gaara was still conscious and Lee was beyond exhausted

Naruto saw Gaara start to raise his hand, he could tell that Gaara had more control of his sand when Gaara actually moves so he knew this was an actual attack towards Lee but he could sense the bloodlust emanating from Gaara

"Guy-sensei you have to stop the fight!" panicked Naruto

"..." was the only response by Guy as he watched his student struggle to move

"Lee can't move any more you have to stop this before he gets seriously hurt" pleaded Naruto as his inner medical nin came up

"He's right Guy I can tell he opened two more gates, the last I can tell he hasn't fully trained in so he's way too tired to fight I bet he couldn't even speak properly" said Kakashi referring to Lee opening the fifth gate during the fight

"He wouldn't forgive me if I ended this match" countered Guy

"He could lose his life" said a serious Kakashi

"Please Guy-sensei I don't want Lee-kun to get hurt" said Hinata

Sand was creeping up Lee's leg as he was trying to crawl away

"Guy-sensei I'm sure Lee will forgive you but what Gaara might do to him now might be irreversible" said Neji putting in his two cents

Lee struggled getting the sand off by swinging his left arm only for the sand to to climb up his arm

Guy had made up his mind

With a fast motion Guy blew the sand away from Lee stopping Gaara's attack, both Lee and Gaara looked surprised

Hayate seeing this only could cough and give the result "With Guy's interference of his genin, Lee is disqualified making Gaara the winner" said the proctor

Lee not having much energy left passed out only for the nurses to carry him away for treatment and Guy made his way back up

"You made the right decision Guy" commented Kurenai

"I know but I might have ruined Lee's pride" commented Guy

"Asuma-sensei why didn't you say anything?" asked Ino

"Oh I don't like getting involved in others business" responded Asuma

After that moment Kakashi was getting nervous with Shino's tie he hasn't gotten a victory yet for his team where now Kurenai and Asuma have already have one and they both have genin left not to mention Guy still has Neji and it seems the leftover genin are all competent such as the last two Kiri genin and the last Iwa genin meaning that whosoever left will be a challenge for Hinata or Sasuke

"Next match will be Hinata vs Neji"

Hinata and Neji calmly walked down the stairs as everyone already knew that they were both Hyuga and expected a taijutsu match

"Naruto, Hinata's like your best friend right?" asked Ino

"Uh yeah I guess you can say that" answered Naruto who was confused by the question

"And Neji is your rival" said Ino

"Yeah" said Naruto starting to see where she's going with this

"Do you think Hinata has a chance" said Ino "I mean I know you trained with her even for just a little bit when Asuma-sensei had us separated so you should know how strong she is"

"I honestly don't know, when me and Hinata train it's her improving my technique and me improving her speed so I don't know if her speed can match Neji's as of right now because without that Neji has an advantage in technique over her" said Naruto

"I see so even with speed Neji has her beat in technique" said Ino

"I wouldn't say it's a big difference it's just that Hinata's not as aggressive as him" said Naruto

"She doesn't push herself past her limit" commented Sasuke "I noticed when sparring with her that she doesn't continue once she has an advantage over me or Shino"

"So what you're saying…" said Ino

"She doesn't have a natural fighter's instinct like me, Neji, Lee, even Naruto has some even though he doesn't show it" said Sasuke

"It's more of a battle of someone being more passive and someone being more aggressive" said Naruto "But unlike other branch clan members Neji doesn't hate Hinata, and Hinata isn't soft either"

* * *

 _Flashback_

 _When Hinata was three Kumo's head ninja who was supposed to sign a peace treaty with Konoha kidnapped Hinata_

 _However Hiashi Hinata's father stopped the ninja by killing him but Kumo claims nothing happened and demanded Hiashi's body as compensation for killing Kumo's head ninja_

 _But Konoha sent Hizashi Hiashi's twin brother and Neji's father instead_

 _It didn't sit well with Neji thinking that the main branch forced Hizashi to make the decision but Hiashi knowing that the Kyuubi attack was still affecting the clan didn't want anything to remain secret especially to close family so he told Neji about Hizashi's willingness to do it even presented the letter Hizashi left for Neji bringing a peace within Neji_

 _And since Neji and Hinata are half-siblings they constantly train together but Neji had more talent than Hinata which was evident where Hiashi had to personally train his nephew to keep his progression up_

 _Luckily ever since Naruto and Hinata became friends around 4 years old Hinata has been more motivated to train_

 _Flashback ended_

* * *

"Begin!"

"Byakugan!" they both say as they activate their dojutsu and entered similar stances

They then began to fight, it was mostly one attacking and the other diverting the blow or dodging it and it was going back and forth like this for awhile

"I don't understand they are fighting so weird" commented Sakura never seeing the gentle

"That's because the gentle fist is the most fatal type of taijutsu" said Naruto

"What do you mean?" questioned Kiba

"Well the way most of us fight is attacking the outside body like the bones and skin, the gentle fist attacks the inside body, like your organs and your chakra system" said Naruto

"How are they able to do that?" asked Choji

"The byakugan" said Sasuke

"Right, unlike the sharingan the byakugan can see the chakra systems pathway and with their style of taijutsu they know exactly where to attack you, you can attack in different ways, open palm like Hinata where she attacks the organs or pointed finger style where you attack the chakra like Neji" said Guy

"Open palm attacks the organs which will cause internal damage since you can't train your organs but the pointed finger style will cut off your chakra" said Naruto

"Whoa" said Sakura "That is pretty deadly"

Hinata and Neji were still going back and forth but Hinata could feel Neji has the upper hand, so she leapt back to create space

Neji not wanting her to get away sped after her but was too late for her next jutsu "Air Palm!" and with a quick motion a thrust of chakra came from her palms and blew Neji back

"That looks alot like your jutsu Naruto" said Ino

"Yeah it's what I based it on but I don't have the gentle fist training to make it the way they do so mine is like an inferior version as that does way more damage and since its gentle fist chakra it attacks the inside body as well" said Naruto

Neji slowly got up and was ready to continue, Hinata got ready to make another air palm but Neji started to form one to, they blast collided with each other resulting in a lot of chakra being blasted throughout the room, pushing a lot of people back even blowing Hinata away but Neji thought ahead and had chakra on his feet to stay grounded, and as she flew back Neji with a burst of speed met her in mid air and started to disable her chakra points but Hinata was able to counter and with a chakra enhanced palm strike to Neji's stomach sending them both back

But as she started to get up Neji's hand was in front of her ready to strike signaling she lost the match

"Alright winner Neji" said Hayate

Neji helped Hinata up and reopened some of her chakra points

"Good job Hinata" said Neji

"Thanks Neji!" said Hinata

"Alright the next match will be Kurotsuchi vs Ino" said Hayate as he was looking at the screen shuffling through some of the last of the names

"Man I really wanted to fight next" said Naruto

"Shut up you better cheer me on!" said Ino

"Be careful Ino" said Shikamaru

"Of course" said Ino

"He's right she's really strong don't take her lightly" said Naruto

"Alright Alright"said Ino as she made her way down

"Begin!"

Kurotsuchi with unforeseen quickness kicked Ino straight in the jaw knocking her back, and as she completed her kick she spun back to normal similar to a dancer

"We told her" said Shikamaru as he and Naruto could only cringe at the kick

Ino got up and was already pissed, she dashed up to Kurotsuchi and prepared to engage her in taijutsu which she was doing okay at but it was clear Kurotsuchi was much faster as she was getting pushed back

"Hm they have similar styles of taijutsu but it's clear that Ino hasn't trained in it as much as Kurotsuchi" commented Asuma

"So how does Ino win?" questioned Naruto

"She'll have to outsmart her" said Shikamaru

Ino not seeing her winning in taijutsu decided to giver herself some space, she took out one of Naruto's seal that he just made and held it infront of her in desperation "Blow Away!"

Wind came out of the seal blowing Kurotsuchi back and like Naruto's jutsu it didn't cause any damage but it creates space as she gets her next jutsu ready

Kurotsuchi recovered from the wind attack only to see Ino from strange sign in front of her aimed at her, Kurotsuchi ready for whatever ninjutsu she was going to try stood her ground

Next thing she knew her head a minor headache and with a quick shake she sees Ino exhausted as she was panting heavily on the other side, seeing the opportunity she charged towards Ino and was viciously beating her, punches and kicks were all heading towards Ino but she wasn't giving up and stood her ground, Kurotsuchi seeing that all Ino need was one big blow decided to go a little fancy on her, she started going through hand signs and made a motion where she was looking up and her hands were at her sides looking like she was trying to fly but she wasn't leaving the ground

"Huh?" said Kurotsuchi

Meanwhile everyone was watching something different, to them they saw Ino beating up Kurotsuchi and making the motion of trying to fly

"Oh no I think we see the one flaw in Ino's plan" said Naruto

"Yeah" agreed Shikamaru

"What are you talking about" said Sasuke "She tricked her perfectly"

"Maybe but Ino's jutsu isn't a transfer of abilities that she wouldn't normally have" said Shikamaru

"What do you mean?" asked Sakura

"He means that if Ino would have switched with Sasuke or Hinata she can't just use the Sharingan or Byakugan normally she would have to train to learn how to activate it, and it appears Kurotsuchi has a special skill that requires training on her body specifically" said Naruto

"I see" said Sasuke

"Ino using a combination of the Mind body switch and the genjutsu: mirror reality would have worked if she would have fought someone with out a special trait that's body specific like me or Sakura but not here" said Naruto

'Having switch bodies with Kurotsuchi and simultaneously using the genjutsu mirror reality where it mirrors what appears on the victim to make it look like Kurotsuchi was on the same side she was originally and still facing Ino even though she was in Ino's body to have her attack her own body is genius but it was risky since she didn't know Kurotsuchi had another trait that can't easily be transfered' thought Asuma

It didn't take long for Kurotsuchi to realize it was a genjutsu and with a quick release of chakra she undid the jutsu only to see she was in Ino's body beating up her own body, but she knew a work around

She took out a kunai and pointed it at her wrist and prepared to swipe but Ino saw this and quickly released her jutsu

As Ino returned to her body she immediately stopped her body while Kurotsuchi was coughing from the beating she gave herself but she wasn't done she quickly went through some hand signs and performed her jutsu

"Lava style: Quicklime jutsu!" said Kurotsuchi as a quicklime came out of her mouth towards Ino

Ino not having much reaction time as they were right next to each other tried jumping back to avoid it which she did but now she was up against the wall

Kurotsuchi then proceeded to levitate doing what she meant to do before and performed another jutsu

"Water style: Water trumpet!"

Water spewed from her mouth but it wasn't directed at Ino but at her quicklime, which made it spread farther and faster trapping Ino's feet in it

Kurotsuchi prepared kunai and started to aim at Ino's stuck body

"Forfeit!" said Kurotsuchi with her kunai as her threat

"I… give up!" said Ino sadly

"Winner Kurotsuchi" said Hayate

There was a brief intermission as the Iwa jonin sensei and Hayate had to get Ino freed safely and clean up the mess Kurotsuchi made

There was only three matches left with six fighters

"Man I didn't think it would take so long for me to fight" said Naruto

"No worries you'll have your turn" said Asuma

"Yeah there is only six left" said Shikamaru

"One is Sasuke though" said Ino

"You think you could beat him if you had to?" asked Shikamaru quieter than normal so only their team could hear

"I don't know it depends if Asuma-sensei will let me use more of my strength than what he limited me to" said Naruto

"What were those he never told us what you were allowed to do?" said Ino

"The basic jutsus that anybody could learn including supplementary techniques like the body flicker, my chains, my new earth jutsu and any fire jutsus" said Naruto

"But I thought you struggled with fire" said Shikamaru

"Yeah but I've spent most my training focusing on fire so I think now it rivals my wind" said Naruto proudly

"Next will be" said Hayate as everyone looked up at the screen "Sakura against Yoroi"

The two made their way down and got ready

"Begin!"

Yori charged Sakura with his hand extended Sakura got ready and with a swift move she spun off one foot and was right at Yoroi's side with her fist stretched back, Yoroi saw this and prepared to block but was still launched back

"What was that dodging move Sakura did it like she glided around him?" asked Naruto

"Chakra gliding a variation of the tree walking and water walking technique, it propels your feet by using chakra looking like you're skating or gliding" said Asuma

"Yeah Sakura used it to dodge to line herself up for her punch"

"Why aren't you more surprised by that punch that was some super strength there" said Kiba

"Once I seen one woman with inhuman strength I've seen them all" said Naruto referring to his aunt

'You would wouldn't you' thought Kurenai, Asuma, Kakashi and Guy as they already know about Tsunade

Yoroi got up from his position and grabbed ahold of Sakura by the neck choking her and draining her chakra

"My body allows me to absorb chakra so I'll just hold you like this until you pass out from lack of air or chakra exhaustion either or" said Yoroi

Sakura thought fast she grabbed a kunai quickly at Yoroi and quickly flicked it at him, he was so close to her he couldn't not dodge fast enough to not get a scratch on his face

"Little brat!" said Yoroi

It wasn't long until Yoroi dropped her and began kneeling in pain

"That kunai had a poisoned tip and it only needs to touch your skin to take effect" said Sakura as she slowly got up "It won't kill you but you will be in pain for hours until given the cure"

Sakura looked to Hayate who could cough as he had to call the match "Winner Sakura" as the medics had to take another genin back to get treatment

"Good job Sakura" said Kurenai as Kiba and Choji gave her thumbs up

"Thanks sensei" said Sakura

"I can't believe Sakura's moving on and I'm not" said Ino

"It's okay Ino" said Naruto as he patted her back in comfort

"If it makes you feel better you had a tougher opponent" said Shikamaru adding his two cents

"Next match will be Sasuke Uchiha vs…" said Hayate as the screen was rotating through the last three names

'Don't be Naruto, Don't be Naruto, Don't be Naruto' thought Kakashi who hasn't gotten a genin to win yet and wants the best chance possible

'Be Naruto, Be Naruto, Be Naruto' thought Sasuke who wanted to fight his friend/rival seriously for once

"Suigetsu" finished Hayate

Kakashi took a breath in relaxation while Sasuke only cursed as he would even be happy going up against Haku

Sasuke and Suigetsu made their way down Sasuke looked pissed as Suigetsu was calmly drinking from water bottle with a straw

"Begin"

Sasuke immediate ran towards Suigetsu and prepared to fight him but as soon as his first punch connected it went right through Suigetsu and as he retracted it he could tell that the hole Sasuke made was made of water as well as his hand being wet

"I'm made of water regular attacks don't work on me" calmly said Suigetsu not interested in this fight in the slightest

"Okay" said Sasuke as he calmly took out a kunai and flung it at Suigetsu who once again just stood there

But the kunai had lightning chakra mixed with it electrocuting Suigetsu knocking him out cold

"Winner Sasuke" said Hayate

"Idiot" said Haku which only made Zabuza and Chojuro nod in agreement

"What a boring fight, make yours entertaining Naruto" said Sasuke as he passed him

"Will the final two competitors please come down for the final match" said Hayate talking about Haku and Naruto

"Alright this is the final match begin"

Haku immediately used a water style: wild water waves but it wasn't at Naruto but he sprayed it all over to the point where it covered most of the floor

"Ice style: Ice floor!" said Haku as he slammed his hands on the ground and froze the water on the ground making an ice floor

Naruto was trying to stay balance but that didn't matter as Haku easily slid on by with a low sweep knocking Naruto off his feet, as he was getting up he looked up and saw Sakura and was instantly reminded

Naruto easily stood up and started skating , he faked a punch but with a swift spin he connected it to Haku's face knocking him back

"Wasn't that?!" said Sakura

"Yeah that was the same move you did" said Kiba

'It wasn't the same Naruto used it for attacking while Sakura used it as a counter, this is what they were talking about at the meeting' thought Kurenai

As Haku got up he decided to engage Naruto in combat, Haku and Naruto were in deep taijutsu combat as they were both the speedy type, but with the ice they were constantly spinning and sliding

Haku did a spinning kick which Naruto dodged by diving on his knees sliding on the ice he withdrew kunai to stop him and as he stopped Haku came down with a dropkick which Naruto dodged by spinning out the way and tried his own kick which was ducked, Naruto tried a follow up by doing a high kick which Haku dodged but Naruto continued his momentum by doing a low kick which Haku had to block but still got knocked back

"That was?" said Tenten

"The leaf whirlwind" answered Guy

"He must of saw Lee-kun do it in the forest" said Hinata

Haku and Naruto were once again in combat, trading punches, Naruto threw a punch at Haku but he grabbed his punch, and as Naruto tried to be free from Haku's grip Haku used his other hand and started doing hand signs

"He can do signs with one hand?" questioned Shikamaru

"Yeah he's skilled enough to do that" said Sasuke

"Water style: thousand needles of death" said Haku as the water from the ice rose and transformed into needles "Ice style" as he turned the water needles back into ice

"You see with Haku the hard part was to train him to be independent from me" said Zabuza

"Yeah his jutsu feeds off of yours" said Kakashi

"Yeah with the hidden mist jutsu it creates plenty of water for him to use but he doesn't know that one yet since he never needed to, now he has to create his own water to freeze" said Zabuza

'Which explains why he hasn't used that ice mirror jutsu yet' thought Sasuke 'But Naruto doesn't know he needs to use this to his advantage before Haku has enough moisture to use it'

Naruto dodged the needles by substituting with a rock created from the Lee fight and he made his way up the statue to get away from the ground

"Earth style: Iron skin" said Naruto as his arms and legs became darker borderline black

With his new jutsu he jumped up into air and prepared a dropkick against Haku but Haku seeing the force behind the technique decided to dodge, the impact Naruto created made cracks all along the ice

"That's the new earth jutsu Naruto learned?" said Ino

"Yeah its an all purpose jutsu which I felt fitted him as it's used for both offense and defense as the skin can be as hard as diamond depending of the skill level, it should replace that rock fist he's been using" said Asuma

'He increase his strength and defense without losing speed' thought Haku as he was dodging blows

Haku not seeing him winning in close combat decided to use his best jutsu "Ice style: Crystal Ice mirrors"

21 ice mirrors surrounded Naruto twelve on the ground, eight floating above those, and one on top, Haku then entered one of the mirrors, although its ice and not glass it is clear enough to still retains the reflective property so it appears Haku is in all the mirrors

"Naruto lost" said Shino who appeared out of nowhere

"Shino you're all better" said Hinata as she was surprised to see her teammate up

"Yes the poison wasn't lethal so I'm fine albeit I'm not at 100%" said Shino

"What do you mean Naruto lost, Haku hasn't attacked yet" said Sasuke

"The only reason why we survived that attack was because of your sharingan tracking abilities and my insects being able to stay on him from earlier that day" said Shino "I don't believe Naruto has a tracking technique like that"

Meanwhile Naruto was constantly getting scratched and pinned/poked by Haku and his needles

'Luckily his earth style doesn't cover his whole body or my needles won't have much effect' thought Haku as he was traveling from mirror to mirror attacking Naruto

"What can Naruto do?" asked Ino to no one in particular as she watched her friend get hurt

'If Naruto can't teleport his speed means nothing in a trapped environment' thought Shikamaru

Haku was throwing many senbons from all mirrors, Naruto knew he couldn't dodge them all he raised his arms still with the earth style enhancing them and prepared to guard himself but he couldn't block them all, many of the senbon were cutting and slicing his pieces of clothing mostly his jacket to get to his skin, many of the senbon also cut his open skin such as his cheeks

Haku briefly stopped his attack in likelihood of preparing his next

'He attacks me at all angles, his speed is fast enough to at least stop me from trying to leave, so I can't escape so I have to beat the technique' thought Naruto as he wiped a cut on his cheek to see blood on his finger then got his idea

Naruto reached into his ninja pouch and pulled out a ball, but it wasn't any regular ball it had some weird sealing all around it, he used the blood on his finger from his cheek and smeared it across the ball

"Summoning jutsu!"

In the smoke a creature appeared it wasn't big and to most of the girls it was actually adorable it landed on Naruto's right shoulder and at its cheeks it was sparkling with electricity

"Pikachu?!" said a surprised Hinata "I haven't seen him in awhile"

"You know that summon Hinata?" asked Ino

"Yeah its Naruto's personal summon the electric mouse summon Pikachu" said Hinata

"Personal Summon?" asked Choji

"A personal summon is a summon that is only linked to one summoner" answered Kurenai "So no one else is allowed to summon it"

Pikachu was a yellow mouse, it was a little over a foot tall and barely weighed over 10 pounds, it had black tips on it ears and red circles on its cheeks, it had two brown stripes on its back matching the base of its lightning inspired tail (Pikachu from Pokemon)

'A summon? And based on its appearance it must be an lightning summon, one hit should get rid of it' thought Haku as it shifted its attention to the summon

"Pikachu dodge it"

Pikachu leapt in the air to dodge the senbon and prepared the next move

"Pikachu now full power Discharge!" ordered Naruto

Pikachu was surrounded by yellow electricity and in cry of power it fires multiple bolts of electricity at each of the mirrors shattering them knocking Haku into the air

Naruto followed up by preparing to deliver the final blow to Haku but Haku blocked it while still in midair

They landed on the ground and prepared once again for taijutsu

"Luckily he got out of that prison now he should be able to beat Haku in taijutsu since he's much faster" said Ino

"Hm" said Guy

"What's wrong guy-sensei?" asked Tenten

"Naruto is indeed faster than Haku but he's not getting the advantage" commented Guy who decided to go into teaching mode "Why is that?"

"Um I don't know maybe Naruto's taijutsu isn't good enough" guessed Tenten

"Naruto's form doesn't benefit him as effectively as Haku's does" answered Neji

"Correct!" said Guy

"What do you mean Guy I'm no taijutsu expert but I don't see anything wrong with Naruto's form he's executing it near perfectly" said Asuma

"He is but does that form suit how Naruto likes to fight?" asked Guy

"I don't understand" commented Hinata

"What Guy is saying is that Naruto's taijutsu form is not the best form he could be using to compliment his speed" said Kakashi "If you tried to fight like Sasuke you might do well in Sasuke's form but not as well as your gentle fist"

"So Naruto-kun needs a different form, won't that take awhile?" asked Hinata

"His form is a balance of power and skill which is a good foundation but it lacks the flexibility and agility of someone who can attack with his speed" said Kakashi

'It probably has to do with him trying to copy many different fighting styles that way they can seamlessly go into his fighting style as their is nothing too complicated behind it' thought Asuma

Naruto managed to kick Haku back a good distance, it was clear that Haku was getting tired as he wasn't as sharp as he was before he used his crystal ice mirrors

As Haku kept trying to give himself distance from Naruto he was trying to draw up a new plan

Naruto however was still moving as if he wasn't fighting for about 15 minutes now it also helped that his summon Pikachu was getting in his own hits making the fight now 2 on 1

"Naruto's not a prodigy but he was certainly blessed with that unbelievable stamina" said Shikamaru

"Yeah I get tired from just looking at him" added Ino

"Naruto also hasn't used that much chakra since the fight started which I still can't tell if that was intentional or not" said Asuma as rubbed his beard

"What do you mean Asuma-sensei?" asked Choji

"Naruto has only use the summoning jutsu, substitution jutsu and his earth jutsu, the latter two not being chakra taxing and more skilled based, whereas Haku has used a lot of jutsus none which are easy to do" said Asuma "But that's the blessing and curse to having a kekkei genkai"

"The blessing and curse?" questioned Sasuke

"The blessing is having an ability that very few people have, the curse is that they are chakra taxing ask Kakashi how many times he passed out from over using his sharingan" said Asuma

"Yeah especially for me since the sharingan isn't a natural born thing for me, but Sasuke do you think you could leave your sharingan on all day, same with you Hinata with your byakugan" said Kakashi

"...probably not" admitted Sasuke as he only had the sharingan for two years now and never bothered to train with it consistently as acquiring it alone was a great feat

"Maybe if I don't do much that day" said Hinata who has been able to use her byakugan since she was 4 and has had longer practice in it

"Right which is why having good chakra reserves is so valuable as a shinobi and a reason why Naruto has an advantage in his fight" said Kakashi 'it also helps to have medical ninja like control over that much chakra'

Meanwhile the fight was getting very lopsided in Naruto's favor as Haku was only trying to escape Naruto's persistence (stubbornness) in his attacks

Naruto backed Haku into a corner "Pikachu use Thunder wave" said Naruto as Pikachu emitted a wave of lightning towards Haku, it wasn't damaging but the effect was immediate

Haku was struggling to move as it seemed all his movements were slow allowing Naruto enough time to hold a kunai to his throat declaring him victorious

"Haku is unable to continue the winner is Naruto will all winners come down" said Hayate as Haku was taken away by the medics

* * *

All the winners gather down to get information about the third and final exam, all the jonin sensei were also down there as well as the other proctors and the Hokage

"As with the tie earlier we are still left with an odd number of fighters so we will have a random fighter who lost have a second chance in the final exam" said Hayate

"That's not fair!" said Kiba as to him if someone lost they should suffer the consequences

"It was either that or have two of our winners fight again to lower the winners down to 12 for an even number" said Hayate "So we felt it would be better to not to penalize the winners and give a loser a second chance, even though their lost will still be affected on their overall performance"

The screen was shuffling through names of the losers, as they were shuffling Shikamaru was talking to Naruto

"You fought pretty well down there shouldn't have revealed too many of your surprises though" said Shikamaru

"Yeah well I couldn't think of another way to break his ice without assistance" said Naruto as he was scratching Pikachu behind the ear as it rested on his shoulder

"What are you going to do over the month?" asked Shikamaru curious about his teammates preparation strategy

"I don't know yet" said Naruto "You?"

"Don't know either I usually just let things happen as they go" said Shikamaru "I probably will train depending on who I fight"

"Smart as usual" said Naruto

The screen finished shuffling and the name landed on Rock Lee

"Guy I trust you will tell Lee about the news" said Hiruzen as Lee was still getting treated

"Right!" said Guy proud his student is getting the second chance as he held his tears of joy back

Most of the other losers were okay with the result since they all saw Lee's strengths and he probably deserved it most out of all the losers

"Alright you all will pick a ball with a number on it to determine who you will fight the remaining number will go to Lee" explained Hayate

All the winners picked a number 1-14

The matches were

Naruto and Kurotsuchi

Sakura and Shikamaru

Chojuro and Zaku

Kimimaro and Kiba

Temari and Karui

Neji and Lee

Sasuke and Gaara

In that order

"You have 30 days before the exam use that time to rest, prepare, go home, grow stronger or do nothing use it have you see fit you are all dismissed" said Hiruzen

* * *

Hiruzen was talking with Kakashi, Asuma, and Kurenai as Guy rushed to see Lee

"I see all your genin performed well even the ones that lost displayed skill and intellect" said Hiruzen "They all have turned heads of the proctors so they all already have votes for chunin but some not enough"

"Do you happen to know which are ones that need more votes that aren't moving on?" asked Kurenai

"I do, but I am not allowed to tell you until the exams are over" said Hiruzen "We will have the meeting we planned before in two days allowing your genin to rest and schedule what they will do for the month"

"Any word on Orochimaru" said Kakashi

"Not yet but not everyone has gave their reports as of now, I already requested for Jiraiya to be back in the village but to do that I will have to have more shinobi go on missions to make up for Jiraiya remaining here" said Hiruzen

"And that includes us" commented Asuma already knowing what his father was implying

"Yes I'm sorry we will try to make it as little as possible but you all are jonin of high skill you may be needed, we even have genin taking more missions to help prepare for the chunin exams" said Hiruzen

"Prepare for the exams?" asked/questioned Kurenai

"Oh Yes! As this is the first where all five villages have a shinobi participating in the final exam all the Kage's are visiting which in turn will be turning this month into a long festival as more civilians will be visiting" said the third Hokage

"So more things needed to be setup as well as extra security" said Asuma

"Yes so while we try to keep you jonin as fresh as possible, chunin will be doing a lot of missions and genin will be helping around the village" said Hiruzen "It will be a busy month so make sure you have your teams ready"

* * *

Sorry I'm really bad at checking for grammar and spelling and etc... and there is still mistakes I know but you should of seen the first draft...

-Turbo


	8. Ch8: It's the Training!

Day 1

"Okay Naruto and Shikamaru do you know what you want to do for the month?" asked Asuma in team 10's usual training ground in their usual positions with Shikamaru laying down on the grass with Naruto besides him with his legs crossed and Ino leaning on one arm with her legs bent

All three genin were there as although Ino didn't pass the preliminary exam she still would like to improve and not get left behind in the month while Naruto and Shikamaru kept improving

"I don't know, I'm fighting Sakura who doesn't have anything that stands out except for her chakra control but she's intelligent as well so it will be hard to outsmart her with my shadow jutsu's" said Shikamaru

"Yes the benefit of not standing out means it's hard to plan for in advance we might have to work on your strategies to give some pre-prepared moves in tough situations" said Asuma as he was stroking his beard in thought "How about you Naruto anything in mind?"

Naruto had a look of serious thoughtfulness until it went away with a smile as he rubbed the back of his head "I don't know either sensei" Naruto said getting a sigh from Ino

"How do you not know what to work on you saw her fight me" said Ino

Naruto's opponent was Kurotsuchi the granddaughter of the Tsuchikage and the girl who defeated Ino in the preliminary showing off her a good repertoire of ninjutsus and skill in taijutsu

"That's exactly why I don't know because I saw her fight you and I saw that she's like me where she mainly uses ninjutsu and taijutsu" said Naruto "She also has a kekkei genkai of lava style meaning she can probably use different styles of it"

"Different styles of lava?" asked Ino

"There's several ways that fire and earth can mix in lava release, there's the quicklime the way she uses against you but there's also molten rock which is where the name lava style comes from, there's also rubber, ashes and acidic mud and more which is why another name for the combination of fire and earth is corrosive style" explained Asuma

"She can use all those?!" exclaimed Ino

"Most likely not as they are all used differently most users can maybe learn two at most three of the different variations" said Asuma

"And she used a quicklime which can be spreaded with water so she knows at least three elements" said Shikamaru "And she had the ability to fly"

"A better way to say it is levitation a technique the Tsuchikage family has been known for years and very few outside that family knows it so no one knows how it is performed" said Asuma

"So how do you fight someone that can fly I mean levitate?" asked Naruto

"From what I've been told as I haven't fought one myself it's not much different but gravity doesn't work the same when someone is levitating" said Asuma

"Like tripping and grappling, they won't have much effect against someone who will rarely touch the ground" said Shikamaru

"Right and if they get knocked back through the air they have the ability to stop in midair if they focus enough" said Asuma "And if they're very skilled in it they levitated themselves higher which puts taijutsu at a huge disadvantage but also depends on the environment as well

Naruto was in deep thought as he crossed his arms while he was intaking the information until Ino poked in him the cheek "Don't forget Naruto she saw your fight too, so she knows about a few of your jutsus too" reminded Ino

"I know and like most people they are probably expecting some of my parents jutsus as well" said Naruto referring to the the Flying thunder god and the rasengan

"Actually it might be time for you to use those techniques" said Asuma shocking all his genin as they all had a wide eyed expression

For almost as long as they have been genin Asuma has set a limit to Naruto's jutsu for multiple reasons. He didn't want confirmation for other villages that Naruto could use the Flying thunder god as it was a dangerous technique feared across the nations. He also didn't want Naruto and his teammates to grow too dependent on it as the ability to teleport is not only deadly but convenient

But most of all "I wanted you all to grow outside of your family's jutsus to be better well rounded shinobi, Ino you adding genjutsu makes you more of positive on attacking as you don't need someone else to rely on when you attack" said Asuma

"I do like playing mind games" she commented

"Shikamaru even though you have yet to reveal them but your growth in taijutsu and adding new weapons to your arsenal will only aid you from now on" said Asuma

"Just more pieces for me to use" said Shikamaru

"Naruto teaching you a new method of attacking will make you unpredictable in the future a skill very few shinobi have, even though it came to my attention that your taijutsu will need to change you make up for it in your diversity of ninjutsu" said Asuma

"My taijutsu needs to be changed?" questioned Naruto as this is the first he heard of it

"Yeah Guy brought to my attention that your current taijutsu style doesn't compliment your advanced speed and that you should learn a style in the future that's more agility and leg based" said Asuma

"Oh that's not a problem I have scrolls of my dad taijutsu style back home" said Naruto calmly, thinking his taijutsu wasn't good enough but it was just the style "I've been using my mom's style mostly so learning dad's shouldn't be too hard"

"Oh then if that's the case keep with your normal style wouldn't want to cause too many problems during the exam so that an wait until after the exam" Asuma concluded thinking it might have been difficult to find Naruto a new taijutsu and master it in a month but that's no longer a problem

"Alright you're free to whatever you want I'm available if you need help but I will still be sent on the occasional mission so don't get your hopes up" said Asuma

* * *

Day 2

"I really don't want to head back to the academy Ino" said Naruto as he and Ino were headed to the academy

"You're the one who said he wanted to make some more money, and you're not allowed to take anything C-rank and above because of the chunin exams so we took a D-rank" said Ino tired of his whining

"But the academy! Couldn't we helped paint a house or something" said Naruto

"No, there was only two missions left, the academy and tora the cat" said Ino

"I see, you made the wise choice Ino" said Naruto knowing that the cat would be way worse than the academy especially without his other teammate "I mean if Shikamaru was here it could be easier"

"If that lazy bum didn't see this month of training as a month relaxation he would be here too" said Ino upset that Shikamaru turned the mission down

"So we're helping a year two class right so they should be starting to learn the concepts of chakra" said Naruto

Students usually enter the academy at age eight and even though they can graduate anytime after that students usually go through four years of the academy but students can stay longer but they don't learn nearly as much if they stay past that point. Naruto's class just graduated not too long ago so the class they're teaching just finished their first year of the academy and were mostly learning taijutsu and similar basic things.

"Right were not allowed to teach the fourth year class as on paper our skill gap is not wide enough, and year three was mostly the history year I felt that wouldn't do well with you so I picked year two for us" said Ino

"Thanks Ino, can't have everyone knows I'm not the best when it comes to things like that, besides my specialty is ninjutsu so maybe I can actually help out" said Naruto

"This is also her class just to let you know" added Ino

"Oh yeah she did just finish her first year should be nice seeing Ama again" said Naruto

"Yeah your little sister" teased Ino

"Shut up!"

* * *

Meanwhile

Hospital

Guy was in his student's room telling him the good news

"Is this true Guy-sensei!?" asked Lee with his eyes as wide in excitement

"Yes Lee you will get your second chance and show everyone your ninja way" Guy said as he and Lee have their usual moment of 'youth'

"When can we get started Guy-sensei" Lee said as he jumped on his bed in excitement

"That's the problem I won't be able to train you fully" stated Guy

"Oh right Neji passed as well who is he fighting?" asked Lee

"You Lee, you two are fighting each other" said Guy "That's why I won't be able to train you fully since you two are opponents and otherwise you would be training together"

Lee and Neji were rivals similar to Guy and Kakashi but unlike with Guy and Kakashi the Lee and Neji rivalry is heavily uneven with Neji beating Lee everytime

"So I can't help you defeat your teammate as I would have to do the same for Neji but I can help with other things that isn't directly related to fighting Neji" said Guy

"I understand Guy-sensei" said Lee sadly

"Look the nurse says you still need a couple of days before you can start training so I will be back then until then rest up you have 30 days until your match" said Guy as he left

Lee was sitting there feeling uncharacteristically down as he knows that Neji is better than him eight gates or not and without Guy's teaching, he loves the idea of fighting Neji seriously but that was when it was still an idea now that it's a reality he's seeing things different he's grasping the reality of fighting someone he has known and even become friends with over the past year.

Hinata was observing the inner struggle and accidently slipped alarming Lee of her presence with a confused look on his face

"Hinata?! What are you doing here?" asked Lee

"I-I wanted to check on y-you" said an embarrassed Hinata "And give you this"

Hinata then presented a pink lotus without its stem, receiving a confused gaze from Lee as he didn't understand him receiving a flower from his teammates cousin/half-sister

"I just wanted to congratulate you on making it to the finals and hope you do well with your second chance" said Hinata "It's like you and Guy-sensei said The Lotus of the leaf Blooms Twice"

And with that a realization washed over Lee as this was the moment he was looking no matter how things changed this was an obstacle in his goal that he needed to prove one of his number one doubters of him being a ninja with only taijutsu and one of the first obstacles in his quest was indeed gaining Neji's respect

"Thank you Hinata, you are right this is a wonderful opportunity" said Lee bowing his head in respect and appreciation

"N-no worries just happy to help" said a surprised Hinata

"Actually there is something you can help me with, can you help train with me against the gentle fist?" asked Lee jumping out of bed and saying it extremely close to her face resulting for her to faint "Hinata?!"

* * *

Back with the blonde duo

Naruto let out a sigh which Ino noticed

"What's wrong Naruto?" asked Ino as they were walking through the academy halls

"Do you ever get the feeling that something you worked on very hard just got a setback?" said Naruto not knowingly referring to Hinata's confidence

"Sometimes but don't worry about it we need to come up with a way to get the students interested in chakra" said Ino

"I have an idea that might get them interested" said Naruto

* * *

Elsewhere with Sasuke and Kakashi

"So it appears to me that you're going to have a tough match ahead" said Kakashi as he was previously ignoring Sasuke requests for training because of Gaara

"I've been saying that for five minutes" said a visibly annoyed Sasuke

"I mean I can but wouldn't it be more rewarding if you train by yourself and win that way?" Kakashi said trying to dissuade Sasuke training with him

"You told me that lightning style is extremely dangerous to train in" Sasuke said which made Kakashi pause

"Meet me at the bridge at dawn tomorrow we'll start there" Kakashi said as he body flickered away

* * *

Academy

Iruka was currently lecturing the second year class on chakra which most weren't paying attention to, usually since Iruka's class recently graduated he would have a first year class as the classes usually keep the same teacher through there four years in the academy but the current class, previous class teacher hated this class for multiple reasons and negotiated with Iruka to switch which Iruka accepted

There weren't notable students outside of a few like Konohamaru and Hinata's little sister Hanabi so most were naturally not that interested in shinobi affairs, Iruka could see why the previous teacher wanted to switch since even though his previous class was also disruptive, they at least cared, this current class doesn't seem to care as much making teaching difficult

Naruto and Ino walked into class interrupting class seemingly having a deep conversation as they weren't bothered by Iruka's attempts to get their attention, as the two walked they were approaching a wall

One student saw this and snickered "Ha these two are about to run into a wall like idiots" the boy said

Naruto and Ino casually put a foot on the wall and the next foot and started walking up the wall, resulting in multiple wide eyes, mouth drops, and exclamations of how, it got worse as Naruto was fully upside down on the ceiling and still talking to Ino on the adjacent wall

Iruka saw this and was amazed at how much attention and focus Naruto and Ino were getting from a simple chakra control exercise as he could of done this day one, obviously there were a few who have seen this before like Hanabi but most of the class hadn't

"Iruka-sensei! How are they doing that?" asked a student

"Chakra control, it's a more advance version of the leaf concentration practice we have been working on" answered Iruka "You apply it to your feet and your chakra will allow you to stick to any surface"

"Cool!" said an enthusiastic Ama who immediately jumped off her seat to try it, she got about one step on the wall until she was blown off it luckily caught by Naruto

"Too much chakra you will get blown off the wall while too little you won't stick at all" instructed Ino

"We came here to assist in instructing chakra control" Naruto said as he had the full class's attentions "But since you all seem interested in this we should learn this!"

As the whole class jumped for joy some for the exercise, others for getting away from the lecture. They made their way outside into the training yard part of the academy and Ino led them towards the nearby trees

"Trees are a good way to measure progress" Ino explained as Naruto was the example walking up the tree "It's easy to mark how far you went with a kunai on a tree" as Naruto showed at the top

"It also is easy to tell when you use to much chakra" Ino continued as Naruto blowed off the tree landing perfectly as the tree has some of its bark gone "So everyone line up and take turns going up the tree, some advice it's better to run than to walk"

* * *

Day 5

Asuma and Shikamaru were at the Nara residence playing shogi as they usually do

They had played about 9 games already and were in the middle of their 10th one

Pieces were moving left and right, up and down as they were playing, Asuma even had visible sweat on his forehead, Asuma thinks he see's the right move, as he made his move a gust of wind appeared shifting his attention slightly too look at who caused this and of course it was Naruto

"Hey guys!" Naruto said to the annoyance of Asuma "I brought this scroll over for Asuma-sensei" as he gave Asuma the scroll

"Thanks Naruto" Asuma said as he pocketed the scroll and as he did so he removed his hand from the piece making a bad move allowing Shikamaru to win

"I win" Shikamaru said making Asuma shake his head in disbelief

"*sigh* Naruto you want to try?" Asuma asked him

"Sure I played this a couple of times" the blonde ninja said as he and his sensei switched

The game was interesting Naruto's style was unorthodox one turn he loses a valuable piece the next he takes one of Shikamaru's, he then loses a minor piece only to mess up Shikamaru

It got to the point where Naruto had seemingly trapped making Shikamaru to go into his thinking sign

Asuma was interested to see how Shikamaru would get out of this but was distracted by Naruto's restlessness as it had been a couple of minutes now

"If this was a fight you would have been killed already ya know" Naruto said making the bearded jonin realize Shikamaru's flaw

'Shikamaru is a great strategist but his tactics are poor this could be good training for him' Asuma thought as Shikamaru made his move getting out the trap

Naruto and Shikamaru made a couple more moves until Shikamaru had to think again, this time Asuma took out a a hourglass (1 minute) and started it

The minute went by and Shikamaru wasn't done

"Naruto wins Shikamaru took too long" Asuma said to Shikamaru's dismay

"Rematch!" Shikamaru said eagerly

"Sure thing" Naruto said as they reset the game board

* * *

Day 8

Kiba was training at training ground with Akamaru and decided to take a walk, he stumbled into the training ground that Kimimaro was training in too see him casually break boulders with his bone weapons

'Wow his bones can break rocks, meaning if I have to beat him I got to be at least able to break bones and boulders' thought Kiba with a new gameplan in mind

* * *

Day 10

Naruto was taking a break from training to eat so he went towards his favorite ramen shop Ichiraku Ramen

On his way he finds a wandering Gaara looking lost

"Hey Gaara!" Naruto said gaining Gaara's attention "You look lost how can I help"

"Help?" Gaara asked

"Yeah where are you going or what are you trying to find?" the leaf nin asked

"Food" the red haired ninja replied

"Perfect" Naruto said as he dragged Gaara to the ramen shop "you're gonna love this!"

"OH Naruto who's your friend" Teuchi asked

"Gaara he's hungry and never had ramen so give us two of your best bowls" the blonde genin told the man

"You got it!" as the father daughter duo got to work

The food arrived and Naruto watched Gaara take his first bite

"Good right!" Naruto said which Gaara nodded "Let's have a race to see who can finish theirs first ready set go!"

The two ate the food incredibly fast as the owner and daughter could only watch baffled

The two finished at the same time "Tie!" declared Ayame

Naruto looked at Gaara who had a 'naruto' stuck on his face which made him laugh making Gaara confused , Naruto brought out a mirror to show Gaara "You look funny"

Gaara looked at himself in the mirror and back at Naruto "Then you look hilarious" as he flipped the mirror back revealing ramen all over his face and hair

"Good one Gaara!" Teuchi said as he and his daughter laughed

"Awe man!" Naruto whined then proceeded to laugh

Gaara then proceeded to crack a smile

"We should do this again see you tomorrow same time" Naruto said which Gaara nodded

* * *

Day 15

Sakura was training privately with Kurenai in a secluded training ground

Kurenai was having her work on evasion in preparation for Shikamaru's shadows so she was casting a genjutsu that wouldn't be believable but makes it seem like she's using the shadow possesion jutsu making Sakura dodge

Kurenai noticed the sweat and fatigue and calls for a break

Sakura gladly takes this break and proceeds to walk around with her water, she hears some noise a distance aways and decides to check it out

She travels quite a distance ignoring her fatigue and finds team 10 preparing to fight it seemed to be Naruto vs Shikamaru and Ino

Naruto dashes in met by some taijutsu from Ino who had gotten faster since she last saw her, as they were fighting Shikamaru sent out his shadow towards Naruto who kicked Ino away to avoid the shadow he was doing a good job dodging the shadow Naruto eventually got to the point where Shikamaru's shadow stopped and she overheard Naruto

"Ha can't do anything without moving Shika I already know your max length of your shadow" Naruto boasted only to be met by a kick from Ino

'That's it I just need to keep a distance from him meaning long ranged attacks will work!' Sakura thought as she leapt back towards Kurenai

* * *

Am I back? I don't even know?


	9. Ch9: Wandering

Day 25

It's the 25th day of the 30 day time-frame that the genin were given to prepare for the chunin exam final matches. The outside villages genin mostly stayed in the leaf village to train with only Zaku going back to his village. Much of the village was shown to be in a festival mood with the numerous booths and stands with games and food. With all five of the main villages being in one space in peaceful terms is extremely rare especially with all five Kage going to be present.

Some like Sasuke, Lee and Kiba were training seriously in the physical aspect while others were more training in the mental aspect like Shikamaru and Sakura and the rest were refining their already existing skills such as Naruto and Neji.

The genin didn't interact with each other much with a few exceptions such as team 10's regular training session with Asuma or Kiba running into Sasuke looking for Kakashi and etc…

* * *

Ino POV

Ever since the 15th day Naruto secluded himself from the world as I haven't found a hint of him for 10 days now' Ino thought as she was passing by booths with crowds of people entertaining themselves 'Not like I need to seem him everyday but it would be nice if I wanted to go get something to eat with someone I knew where you were and if you were available'

Ino had passed by the Hyuga Compound to see Neji and Hinata doing some sparring with what seems to be Hinata's little sister watching them, Ino started to wave Hinata down to get her attention. With the Byakugan both Hinata and Neji noticed Ino and put a pause to their sparring

"Hi Ino how may I help you?" asked Hinata

"Yeah I haven't been able to find Naruto for some days now, do you have an idea where he might be?" I asked Hinata who didn't look surprised that Naruto was seemingly missing

"He's probably in his personal training spot, he'll be back by the exams" the Hyuga heiress answered

"His personal training spot?!' I said confused as this is the first I'm hearing about it "Alright can you tell me where it is?"

"No I'm the only other person who knows about it and Naruto didn't want it shared with anyone" Hinata answered me which didn't sit well with me

"Come on Hinata tell me!"

"... If you can beat me one on one I'll tell you" Hinata said ushering me more into the compound

'Where's this confidence coming from?' "Alright if I win you will tell me if not I'll leave"

"Alright one one taijutsu and ninjutsu no genjutsu allowed, weapons will be permitted as well" Neji said as we both got in our fighting stances "Go!"

Hinata started with the first strike surprising me but I managed to dodge and throw a punch myself which she deflected but I spun a kick which she leaped back for as I regrouped

My arm felt weird 'I should have known better than to engage in taijutsu with a Hyuga' As I reveal some kunai

* * *

Neji POV

"It seems Ino wisen up to avoid taijutsu with Hinata" as Ino was throwing shuriken and kunai towards Hinata to keep her distance

"Neji why doesn't Hinata try harder to get closer so she can have the advantage" Hanabi asked

It was a fair question to ask as Hanabi hasn't been in real combat yet and doesn't understand different tactics "She's looking for the counter"

"The counter?" Hanabi questioned as Hinata hid behind the nearby tree

"Yes the counter, as different as me and Hinata might be we both have a similar tactic in our styles" As Ino started to get closer to get a more accurate shot of Hinata "You like to attack and create an opening for you to take advantage of while Hinata waits for her opponent to create that opening themselves and strike

Ino took two kunai with wire attached and threw them so they would wrap around the tree to tie up Hinata but in a swift Movement Hinata dodge them and dashed towards Ino, Ino saw this but with her hands still with the wire she threw a kick but in swift movement she twirled out the way and landed to palm bottoms on her knocking Ino back

Ino was slow to get up as she withdrew the infamous thunder sword and activated it to help keep her distance from the pursuing, she managed to delay Hinata's attacks as she didn't want to get hit but she blocked a swipe by stopping her arm and landed a decisive blow to the chest

Ino was struggling to move so I decided to call the fight "Hinata wins now you must agree to your agreement"

* * *

Shikamaru POV

I think I have some tactics to use against Sakura for my victory but the problem is that this is a tournament

And if I win, assuming we go in the order that we were placed in I would be against Naruto or Kurotsuchi, neither of which I can win against unless something goes wrong in there match

Someone should get a pass in the first round as it will be an odd number with 7 winners and I doubt it will be me who gets a pass knowing my luck

Or it could be a three way battle to even things out which could be even worse

"This is too troublesome I should just forfeit"

* * *

Naruto POV

I was currently in my personal training spot it was one the third hokage had showed me and It's been my getaway spot for years, Hinata only found it back when she was too shy to talk to me and followed me back here. It was a nice spot it was in the woods behind the hokage monument, which is still within the village but since it's not cleared out for shinobi training grounds and no buildings for civilian use no one comes back here being completely forgotten about

I was training in making my jutsu that I haven't been using regularly become more natural to use. Since I haven't used the Rasengan much since I learned it, and never used my dad's flying thunder god to its full attacking use as I don't have thousands of kunai with my seal on it, and as great as my reaction time is

I'm still not the stealthiest shinobi so if my opponent are good with senses they could react fast enough to any of my moves including the Flying thunder god even though I even know that if I get the seal near the opponent I should win as no one except for Lee and maybe Kimimaro should be as fast as me

So without the kunai I have been thinking of ways to approach my opponent with the Flying thunder god to force a surrender or to land a Rasengan. I thought my mom's sealing chains could do it but I never have found a teacher to have me use chains a viable fighting weapon; only for grabbing slower targets and capturing so far

Kurotsuchi is a ninjutsu specialist and should be aware of the flying thunder god so she'll probably keep her distance from my close range attacks,

"I really need better a longer range technique" I grunted out loud

Wind style: Great breakthrough is good but won't be effective against fire let alone lava so I shouldn't try to overpower her through ninjutsu

"I'll just wing it in five days!"

* * *

Konoha Meeting Room

With the final examinations coming soon the leaders of Konoha have came to the decision regarding the soaring leaves

"So we all came to an agreement"

All the heads in the room nodded in agreement to the selection of the soaring leaves

"Alright the members of the soaring leaves are as follows..."


	10. Ch10: Final Round

The tournament was set

1\. Naruto vs. Kurotsuchi

2\. Sakura vs. Shikamaru

3\. Chojuro vs. Zaku

4\. Kimimaro vs. Kiba

5\. Temari vs. Karui

6\. Sasuke vs. Gaara

7\. Neji vs. Lee

"The first match will soon begin everyone else besides Naruto and Kurotsuchi please head up the stairs" Genma said

Naruto and Kurotsuchi stayed down while the other 12 went towards the waiting area

Genma was proctoring this part of the exam

"Genma where's Hayate?" Naruto asked the proctor

"He's on a mission so I was voted to take over" Genma answered the genin

"Alright that's fine I thought something bad happened" Naruto responded focusing back on his opponent

Kurotsuchi was glaring hard at Naruto which didn't bother Naruto as he was doing his last second check

"Alright the winner will be decided by me or if someone wants to forfeit!" Genma said loud enough for the audience to hear

Many people were watching the fight it became highly publicized with many people from other villages buying seats that would have otherwise gone otherwise to leaf residents such as the academy students

It had been awhile since the chunin exams were in konoha but it was an unofficial tradition to have academy students watch the fight if the exams had fighting but those had to be given away to please the other villages

So kids like Ama, Konohamaru, and Moegi and adults like Iruka can't see the fights

"Begin!" Said Genma as he leapt back to give the genin some room

Kurotsuchi was older than Naruto so she definitely had more battle experience despite being a genin and she was shocked to say the least by Naruto's actions

Naruto took out two kunai and twirled them around his fingers "I only have two kunai with my flying thunder god seal on them as making these are a lot harder than it seems" he said as he put one away

"Fool why are you telling me now I now know to look out for two kunai" Kurotsuchi said

"Because I only need two to beat you" Naruto said cockily only pissing her off

Kurotsuchi launched a lava ball at Naruto but he threw his kunai towards her as she expelled the lava so as soon as the kunai got close to her he teleported to it

Kurotsuchi was surprised as this was the first time she has experienced this technique but she was able react by levitating high in the air

Naruto took his airborne kunai and threw it towards Kurotsuchi in the air, she saw this and flew away from the kunai which made Naruto grab the kunai again and throw it towards her

This time Kurotsuchi knew this would happen and prepares a water style jutsu but as she was going through the hand signs she saw a kunai go higher in the air and saw Naruto now at that kunai with him charging a rasengan

She saw this and fired the water trumpet at him in the air, Naruto starts descending with his rasengan in hand outstretched toward the water

As the jutsu were about to clash Naruto teleported again but to the original kunai that was flying towards her

And with no time to react the rasengan connected launching her into the stadium wall

Finalist spectator area

"So this is Naruto using his father's jutsu in combat" Sasuke commented

"Man I wish I knew that jutsu it would make me unbeatable" Kiba said

"No it wouldn't" shikamaru said as Sasuke Sakura and Kiba looked towards him for an explanation

"What do you mean that jutsu made the fourth hokage famous alone not even mentioning the rasengan" Sakura said

"We all been teleported by Naruto with that jutsu and it takes some getting used to" Shikamaru "It still takes me a good amount of time to get used to my surroundings"

"Yeah last time I thought I was crazy" Sakura said

"But Naruto's using it repeatedly" Kiba says out loud

"Which is why it's amazing he can use it" Shikamaru says

"Yeah...When using it Naruto is basically putting his body on autopilot" Sasuke says shocking Sakura and Kiba

"What?! That's crazy" Sakura says

"Not only that but he's also thinking on the fly, that move he just used wasn't a strategy he had beforehand but was reacting and planning on be spot" Shikamaru says "His brain is probably working at least twice as hard than fighting without it"

"With Kurotsuchi unconscious the win goes to Naruto!" Genma said "As Naruto goes up can Sakura and Shikamaru come down to start the next match"

Naruto walked up the stairs as some medical ninja took care of Kurotsuchi

As Naruto was walking up Sakura and Shikamaru were walking down

"Good luck you two!" Naruto said putting his hands up for high fives

"Thanks!" Shikamaru said as he high fived his teammate

"Thanks Naruto" Sakura said as she also high fived Naruto "Good job on your match too!"

"Will the next match start!" Genma said starting the next match

Sakura immediately blitzed Shikamaru making the shadow ninja engage in taijutsu, Shikamaru would usually have no problem with engaging someone in taijutsu as long as it wasn't someone extremely skilled in like Neji, Lee, Sasuke or Naruto but there was something different about Sakura's taijutsu

Sakura threw a strong right hook but Shikamaru saw this and leapt back a good amount of distance, as Sakura's momentum kept her going downwards her fist connected with the ground creating a small crater where her fist hit

"I know Naruto said you use chakra to make your punches and kicks stronger but this is ridiculous" Shikamaru said afraid of the prospect of getting hit by a blow that strong

"If you think this is crazy you should see Lady Tsunade" Sakura said

"Yeah no thanks" Shikamaru as he got into his jutsu pose "Shadow possesion jutsu!"

A shadow extended from Shikamaru's shadow and traveled towards Sakura, Sakura immediately started retreating so she wouldn't be possessed by the shadow, she ran, jumped, flipped, hid basically everything she could without confronting Shikamaru directly

Sakura then started throwing kunai towards Shikamaru, Shikamaru saw this and dodged them releasing his jutsu

"So he can't move when he uses the jutsu, good to know that theory was right now time to go back on the offensive" Sakura said to herself

Sakura started running towards while throwing kunai at Shikamaru, Shikamaru saw this and started to dodge, it wasn't long until Sakura was dangerously close

"Cha!" Sakura threw her punch which Shikamaru blocked but the force still knocked him into the wall

Genma came over to get a closer look, he saw the result and smirked

"What the! I can't move!" Sakura said as she struggled to move

"You weren't paying enough attention" Shikamaru said as he dusted some of the dirt off him

"What do you mean?" Sakura said

"When you were running and throwing kunai, I was doing the signs for my jutsu discreetly, so when you came in with that punch I finished the last sign as I blocked your punch, which easily connected my shadow with yours

"So you took the hit so I can get close enough" Sakura said

"Yeah and now, Shadow strangle jutsu!" Shikamaru said as he did his next jutsu which formed a hand from the shadow and slithered its way up to Sakura's neck "I would usually forfeit but frankly you didn't make me use enough chakra to make me think I had no chance against Naruto next round albeit I probably won't win, I'm lazy not a coward! Besides Ino will kick my ass for losing to you"

"I-I forfeit!" Sakura said as the hand was on her neck and she was struggling to talk

"Alright with Sakura's forfeit the winner is Shikamaru!" Genma announced

"Let's go boys!" A voice heard from the audience which was easily identified by the genin as Ino Yamanaka cheering on her teammates

"With the no-show of Zaku, Chojuro automatically wins his match and will proceed onto the next round" Genma said after receiving word that Zaku never arrived "Now will Kimimaro and Kiba come down to start the fourth match"

Kimimaro and Kiba with Akamaru came down

Spectator area

"Good job you two you both did good" Naruto said to Shikamaru and Sakura

"I can't believe I lost to this lazy bum" Sakura said upset about her loss

"That was rather confident saying you think you had a chance against Naruto" Neji said

"It was just me lying, I had to make Genma convinced that I had the confidence in myself" Shikamaru "Chunin is more than just power, you have to be able to lead, so if that means I have to lie to get the most out of the situation then I'll do it"

"Makes sense, whenever we become chunin, we will be leading our squads of genin and/or chunin so being able to lead is probably what there also evaluating from the past parts as well" Sasuke said

By this time Kiba was losing to Kimimaro, Kiba's taijutsu was good but Kimimaro was on another level the way he was dodging Kiba seemed even faster than Lee, the tag team of Kiba and Akamaru helped but still was ineffective, leaving Kiba to use his trump card

"Inuzuka Style: Man-Beast transformation: Two headed wolf!" Kiba exclaimed as he and Akamaru transformed into a big two headed dog

"So it seems he didn't complete the jutsu" Naruto commented

"What jutsu are you talking about?" Sakura asked

"He wanted to learn the shadow clone jutsu so he can improve on his two headed wolf" Naruto said "But his chakra levels were too low to attempt so he spent the month trying to increase them, but it seems like he didn't have enough time"

Kiba was thrashing Kimimaro around as even he couldn't keep dodging the combination of size and speed that Kiba was showing, unfortunately Kiba's transformation undid itself as Kiba ran out of chakra

Kimimaro did a bone blade and held it to Kiba's neck signalling the end of the match with Kimimaro winning

The next match was similar

Temari's long range Wind style was a better match up against Karui's short ranged Lightning Style

Karui got a good slice in but the match ended much like it did with Tenten with Temari winning

Next was Sasuke and Gaara

"Will Sasuke Uchiha and Gaara of the Sand come down" Genma said as the crowd cheered for mostly Sasuke making his debut

Sasuke and Gaara quietly made their way down to the center of the stadium

They were both calm to the audience but to the three down there and those close to them knew there was a tension in the air

"Begin!"

Sasuke jumped back and threw a couple shuriken but Gaara used his sand to make a sand clone which threw sand shuriken to block, Sasuke moved in close to attack but was blocked by the sand clone and as the clone was going to attack Sasuke dodged and blitzed Gaara with his speed and landed a kick

"Fast just like the other one" Gaara said referring to Lee

"I saw you fight Lee and you had a lot of trouble with his speed" Sasuke said "So I copied it"

"What?!" Lee said in the spectator area

"What do you mean he copied his speed?" Sakura asked no one in particular

"The sharingan" Neji said

"What about it?" Kiba asked

"The sharingan allows a user to perceive movement faster than a regular eye, it also allows them to memorize anything taijutsu genjutsu or ninjutsu as long as they have the capabilities to do it" Naruto said shocking those who wasn't aware

"Doesn't sound fair doesn't it" Chojuro said approaching the group

"It doesn't but it's a reason why it's known as one of the three great dojutsu alongside the byakugan" Neji said

"So Sasuke copied Lee's speed?" Sakura asked

"Yeah... well more like the movement of it" Naruto answered

"Explain" Lee said

"Well Sasuke probably just memorized Lee's movements and is just replicating them it's the small things, like Lee's footwork or the way he swings his arms or the way he balances himself at that speed are probably how he's moving like that" Naruto said "So with the month he was probably conditioning himself"

"There is a problem though" Lee said

Sasuke was starting to pant as he's not fully conditioned for this level of speed, he managed to hit Gaara's sand armor many times but nothing serious has affected Gaara

"Sasuke is getting tired faster than he should be" Shikamaru said "He might have the speed not the same stamina Lee took years to gain, its like having the same max speed but Sasuke only at half fuel"

"Hm… no wonder my village went for the byakugan and not the sharingan in the past" Chojuro said as Neji gave him a glare "as useful as that ability is it requires a lot of training whereas is effective at any point, makes you wonder which is actually better"

Neji calmed down after not sensing any disrespect or hatred coming from Chojuro "You do need to train the byakugan to increase its range of sight but yes it is a more complete eye" Neji said

Sasuke then jumped up the wall and started going through hand signs, then lightning started to engulf his hand making a chirping noise

"What's that? And why does it sound like birds" Sakura asked

"Chidori or in other words 1000 birds" Naruto said knowing the jutsu is Kakashi's

"What is it?" a new voice came and joined them probably curious about the power of the jutsu as well

"Oh hey its Kimimaro, you know Temari you can join us too!" Naruto said inviting the last genin finalist over as Kurotsuchi is in the medical bay

"No thanks" Temari said

"Oh well, Chidori is a lightning style assassination jutsu made by Kakashi" Naruto explained for the group "It's made for piercing through almost anything but it has a drawback besides that loud noise"

"What is it?" Shikamaru said

"It accelerates their speed causing them to have tunnel vision" Naruto said as his hand started to engulf in lightning "It's extremely powerful it's like lightning running through your body"

Naruto was struggling to control it so he powered it down "But the sharingan enhanced visual perception allows it be used so the user can move more freely"

"How do you know it?" Kiba asked

"Kakashi tried teaching it to me when I was younger after I finished learning my father's flying thunder god because it gives me better reflexes, but I'm not that good at lightning style so it was really difficult so when I did learn it my reflexes didn't solve the tunnel vision problem" Naruto said as Sasuke charged towards Gaara with Chidori in hand

As Sasuke grew closer Gaara tried attacking only for Sasuke to avoid the attacks, forcing Gaara to create a sand sphere to shield himself and as Sasuke was going to attack Gaara made spikes of the sand but Sasuke saw this and moved his body so he wouldn't be struck and pierced the sand striking Gaara

"BLOOD!" Gaara screamed

Next thing everyone knew feathers were falling across the stadium, many of the shinobi knew it was genjutsu and dispelled it

Then in the kage area the Kazekage removed his cloaked and grabbed the third Hokage and revealed himself to be Orochimaru

He took Hiruzen to the top of the building and had his sound ninja erect a barrier

The other Kage saw this and leaped in to assist their fellow Kage just in time but their bodyguards weren't able to make it into the barrier

"Well sensei I told you I would attack the leaf village one day didn't I!" Orochimaru said to his old sensei "I guess you can call it an invasion"

* * *

 **This took way to long too write for such a trash chapter :P**

 **I'm also stopping naming the chapters after songs from the Naruto series soundtracks**


	11. Leaf vs Sound Arc: Part 1 - The Rustle

Even though the situation was chaos it was quiet as with the genjutsu the civilians and extremely low skilled ninja were out cold

The villages other genin fled the area with haste, the Sand genin took Gaara away from the stadium, Kimimaro went to the medical bay to presumably get his teammate Kurotsuchi, while Chojuro and Karui went to their respective jonin sensei's

Naruto and the other leaf genin went to go look for their jonin sensei's, and no one seemed to be available, Asuma and Kurenai were fighting back to back against a dozen of sand ninja, Guy sensei was handling his own ten sand ninja and Kakashi-sensei just got challenged by Baki of the sand village after he killed a leaf chunin

"What do we do?" asked Hinata to anyone willing to answer

"We can't just sit here" Tenten said

It was 12 genin gathered together as higher level ninja were fighting around them, right now they were a big target, Sasuke looked agitated as Gaara left before the battle was finished, Shikamaru had a calculated look on his face, Neji was looking around making sure they wouldn't be attacked, Ino was looking towards Naruto for guidance

"Ino link all of us up!" Shikamaru said to Ino

"Right!" she said as she did the Mind transmission jutsu

'Weird' Sakura thought to the group

"Alright Kiba is your chakra back to normal?" Naruto asked Kiba as he lost to Kimimaro by running low on chakra

"Yeah I'm ready to fight anytime!" Kiba said with Akamaru barking in agreement

"Then Sasuke you take Kiba Shino and Tenten to go after Gaara and his siblings, obviously, the sand is attacking us and they are fleeing for a reason stop whatever they plan on doing" Naruto said to Sasuke with the other three listening

"Good with me, let's go!" Sasuke said as him and Kiba ran off

"Shino and Tenten look at this as your rematch, show them how strong the leaf is" Naruto said as Tenten lost to Temari in the preliminaries and Shino tied with Kankuro

"It will be our pleasure" Tenten said as Shino nodded, they then followed Sasuke and Kiba

"They seem to be avoiding the civilians in the stadium" Sakura commented

"But that doesn't mean the ones outside the stadium are not being attacked" Ino said

"Alright Ino-Shika-Cho I need you three to help in the village" Naruto said to the three, "Sakura with your medical training you can help the injured and Hinata you need to be able to watch their blind spots so you two join those three and help civilians make it to the bunkers"

"Sounds good! Let's head out!" Ino said as the five left

"Neji, Lee you two haven't fought so us three are going to help wherever we can" Naruto said to the older genin

"Do you think these assignments are best" Neji questioned, not in doubt but in curiosity

"Frankly it's too late I made commands and I have to live with the consequences" Naruto replied

"Very well" Neji said with his Byakugan fully activated

"Where should we head to first?" Lee asked

"The academy" Neji said as he sees ninja headed in that direction

Naruto Lee and Neji see three sound ninja heading inside the academy with two sound ninja standing guard

"Alright Lee you take care of two outside as me and Neji sneak in" Naruto said

"Alright!"

Neji and Naruto went into the sound ninja's blind spot and landed on the roof to make their way into the academy. Lee however wasn't so stealthy

"You two sound ninja! Fight me!" Lee said as the two-sound ninja were confused by the genin "Very well I will make the first move!"

Meanwhile Neji and Naruto were making their game plan

"There's four rooms and three sound ninja" Naruto said

"I see that the first-year room is empty so every other room has a sound ninja" Neji said with his Byakugan active

"Alright you go towards the first and fourth year rooms I'll go to the third and second" Naruto said as they split off

Neji disabled his fourth-year opponent easily as the genin teacher was keeping him preoccupied allowing the teacher to lead his and the first-year class away to safety

Naruto went to the third-year room first and similarly saw the teacher battling the sound ninja, and in a swift motion he launched a rasengan into the female sound ninja's back

Naruto then looked into the second-year room, and this was the room where he had the most attachments in, Ama his little sister, Iruka his favorite academy teacher, Hanabi is his best friend Hinata's little sister, and Konohamaru is kinda like his protégé

The sound ninja in there was intimidating Iruka who was more concerned about protecting the kids. Iruka is strong but he isn't a heavy combat ninja as he was more of a supplementary role with his sealing and sensing jutsu

Naruto wanting to look cool in front of sister decided to make himself look like a hero, so he busted through the class door surprising everyone as they could only see a silhouette

"Sound ninja let these innocent kids go your battle is with me!" Naruto said in a completely different voice trying to sound older

"Naruto?" Iruka said confused by his old student's actions

"Well sound ninja doesn't sound good being called by the enemy call me Saiko" the sound ninja revealed to be named Saiko said

"Big bro this crazy ninja just came in here and started telling us what to do!" Ama said from her seat

"Well that's not very nice is it" Naruto said

"Enough! You're going down!" Saiko said as he charged Naruto

Naruto saw the slow speed and did a front flip over Saiko, Saiko saw this and tried a backwards kick but Naruto twisted and grabbed his leg and threw him towards the other wall. Saiko now annoyed started trying to engage Naruto in taijutsu, but Naruto was dodging the punches like a boxer or like his sensei Asuma

"Why can't I hit you!?" Saiko yelled as his annoyance is skyrocketing

"Well my name is Naruto Namikaze the son of the yellow flash so I would be surprised if you could even touch bottom of my sandal" Naruto said

"Well if I can't touch you I can surely touch them" Saiko said as he threw shuriken at the academy students at their seats "Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

The shuriken multiplied scaring the students, but Naruto in a blur of orange and black had caught all the shuriken as he took off his jacket and put them all in his jacket as if it was pouch, he landed with all the shuriken in front of Hanabi

"I can handle myself Naruto" Hanabi said as she was the readiest to block the shuriken

Naruto laid the shuriken down on the desk in front of him "Of course you are I had no doubt in my mind you couldn't block this but some guys need to be taught a lesson" Naruto said as he rubbed Hanabi's head not seeing her blush

"You better leave before it's too late" Naruto said as he threw a kunai in the air falling towards Saiko

"Or what?" Saiko said

The kunai was falling right in front of Saiko and not even in a blink of an eye Naruto appeared in front of him "Or I might have to kill you! So, run and don't bother anyone from the leaf again!"

And the fastest Naruto has ever seen anyone run from him Saiko was gone busting through the class window and running away

"Everyone okay?!" Naruto asked the class everyone said yes with them talking to each other of how cool Naruto was

"You could have done that a lot faster" Neji said at the doorway as Naruto just shrugged to Neji's amusement "Let's get everyone out!"

With Sasuke's group

They were closing in on the sand siblings

"Alright, Shino you and Tenten will separate Temari and Kankuro from Gaara" Sasuke said

"Right" Shino said

"Kiba you will back me up if I need it" Sasuke said to Kiba

"Me and Akamaru are ready anytime" Kiba said with Akamaru barking in agreement

"Alright let's go!" Sasuke said as Shino and Tenten sped up to engage Temari and Shino making Gaara stop "You ready to continue?"

Later with Shikamaru's group

They had helped a few shop owners and few strays get back to the bunkers but right now they were battling some sound chunin

Hinata knocked one chunin down with a palm bottom while Sakura was healing a cut on Choji as Shikamaru possessed the other four chunin

"Ino can you use the mind destruction" Shikamaru asked

"Not with the transmission still up it's too dangerous" Ino said

"Alright Sakura and Choji knock them down" Shikamaru said

Sakura and Choji with their enhanced strength managed to knock the other four chunin out but there was something wrong

'We need back up, Gaara's gone berserk' Sasuke thought which reached the minds of the other 11

'What's going on?' Ino asked

'Gaara transformed into this strange sand raccoon thing, I already used my last chidori and Kiba and Akamaru can't seem to get a damaging blow in' Sasuke thought to the group

'What about Shino and Tenten?' Neji thought

'Shino is fighting Kankuro and Tenten is fighting Temari away from us, I haven't heard from them so…' Sasuke thought

'What should we do Naruto?' Lee asked as right now Naruto is defacto leader

'Um me Hinata and Sakura will help you out while Neji and Lee rejoin Shikamaru's group' Naruto said 'Hinata and Sakura meet me at the stadium, Shikamaru you and Neji meet at the academy'

'Alright'


	12. Leaf vs Sound Arc: Part 2 - The Wind

**(Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year!)**

Naruto, Hinata, and Sakura had joined Sasuke but only to find them beaten by a rampaging Gaara

"Hinata use your byakugan to find Shino and Tenten and heal them if they need help, Sakura you're going to heal Sasuke and Kiba as I'll handle Gaara" Naruto ordered

"Right!" they said as Hinata leapt away and Sakura went towards Sasuke

"Hey Gaara, hey buddy how's it going?" Naruto said trying to reach his ramen buddy only to be responded by screams "So the tailed beast is taking over well I'll just have to knock some sense into you!

Naruto charged Gaara only to be met by an arm of sand knocking the wind out of him. He was headed towards a tree but used his Flying Thunder God jutsu as he teleported near the exhausted Kiba

"Alright can't go head first this time" Naruto said out loud to no one but Kiba heard him

"He's linear but his strength and control over that sand covers that weakness" Kiba said

"So I need to out maneuver that sand" Naruto said

"Not only that but you need a way to get passed that sand on his body" Kiba said "Sasuke's Chidori did get through but wasn't able to take advantage of the hit as it seemed to only make him angrier"

"So I need to find a way to get around the sand like Lee's speed but still have the power to breakthrough the sand like the Chidori then I have to restrain him" Naruto said as crossed his fingers and two clones appeared "Thanks Kiba"

Hinata had found Shino and he was poisoned by Kankuro but had defeated Kankuro which once again made it a draw, Hinata healed him by extracting the poison but Shino was still weak, Tenten was still battling Temari but had a better match up against her this time as she spent more time training in her close ranged kenjutsu, albeit Temari was concerned more about Gaara than Tenten

Sakura had healed Sasuke to the point where he could move but his active curse mark made it clear that he was pushing his limits with his fight against Gaara

Sasuke, Sakura, and Kiba were watching Naruto fight against Gaara in his raccoon/tanuki form. Naruto and his two clones were leaping from tree to tree throwing explosive tags wherever they could slowly weakening Gaara's sand defense and since he was using clones his already sizable explosive tag supply had tripled

"He's breaking through the sand by using his explosive with clones" Kiba said excitedly as it seemed Naruto was winning

"Yeah but Gaara's sand can come back he just needs to crush the ground to make more sand" Sasuke said "Besides how many explosive tags does Naruto have left before he has to make his final move"

'Not many' Naruto thought as the rest heard him

'What do you plan on doing' Sakura asked

'To finish things with a Rasengan and do a temporary seal to fix his' Naruto said

'Seal?' Sakura questioned

'I'll explain later, but Sasuke you and Kiba stand on opposite sides of Gaara with explosive tags ready and Sakura get ready to throw me' Naruto said

'Alright' they thought as they got into position

Naruto's clones went head first into Gaara gaining his attention as he sent sand towards them to dispel them

'Now!'

Sasuke and Kiba threw two explosive tags at opposite sides of Gaara weakening his sand. Naruto teleported to Sakura and with her enhanced strength launched him towards Gaara at great speed. Naruto formed a bigger than normal Rasengan and shoved it into Gaara's torso launching him into a few trees

"Yes!" Sakura said in success 'We took down Gaara'

"Good they took down Gaara" Tenten said shocking Temari

"What?!" Temari said as she blew Tenten back with her fan and leapt away to her brother

Naruto approached Gaara and made a seal on him making him drop the transformation

"What did you do?" a weak Gaara asked

"I tightened your seal so the tailed beast can't take over as easily as it did" Naruto answered "It's only temporary though"

"How did you know" Gaara asked

"Well you can't tell anyone but I have a little sister who's life was a lot like yours, lonely, afraid, depressed... but I stepped into her life as someone to enjoy time with and as a mentor since I can't come out as her brother" Naruto said

"Why can't you confess" Gaara asked

"It's a stupid law in our village, so she grew thinking that she's an orphan with no parents and no siblings and only recently was I allowed to enter her life as a mentor" Naruto said "It's kinda why I wanted to hang out with you you're like a brother in that sense"

"Brother…" Gaara said

"Yeah no one deserves to be alone and I think you enjoyed those times at the ramen shop with old man Teuchi and Ayame" Naruto said

"Yes… they are very… nice" Gaara said reminiscing on the father-daughter ramen chefs

"Yeah and don't you want to protect those you care about" Naruto said with Gaara slightly nodding

"So just form those connections and find your reason to fight, mine is for my sister and people I hold close. What's yours?" Naruto said as Temari jumped in between them ready to fight Naruto

"Back away from my little brother!" Temari threatened only to feel a hand on her shoulder

"It's okay Temari" Gaara said "I mean... sister… He showed me that we shouldn't be fighting each other"

"But Gaara…" Temari said

'Naruto they need you back at the stadium' Shikamaru thought to the group

'What's wrong?' Hinata thought

'The barrier separating everyone from the Kage's needs another sealsmaster as Jiraiya isn't enough' Ino thought

'And that the Kazekage is actually Orochimaru and he somehow brought back the previous Hokage to fight against the other Kage' Neji thought

"Wait the Kazekage is Orochimaru and he somehow brought back my dad" Naruto said out loud as Temari and Gaara were in shock

"Dad?!" Temari said concerned about her father

Tenten finally caught up

"Tenten you and Sasuke and Sakura need to take these two and Kankuro somewhere and tell Hinata to take care of Kiba and Shino, I'm needed elsewhere" Naruto said

"Alright" Tenten said


	13. Leaf vs Sound Arc: Part 3 - Deciduous

MaelstromNamikaze requested for me to use align left so here is align left

* * *

Shikamaru's group

Shikamaru, Choji, Ino, Neji, and Lee finished escorting another group of about 10 civilians to the bunkers

Many chunin were seen resting as an exhausted ninja is a useless ninja in a time of crisis like this

And many were injured and moving them is too risky to make the travel in a battle like this

Lee was helping a civilian lean against the wall as the other four were discussing their next move until they couldn't help but notice Choji looking exhausted as he was sitting while the others were standing

"You okay Choji?" Shikamaru asked his exhausted best friend

"Yeah I'm… fine… I can keep going" Choji said drowsily as his eyes were failing to stay open

"Choji you're looking lighter you should stop" Ino added ass her friend was losing some of his trademark fat

"Yeah you've been overdoing your clans jutsu" Shikamaru said as the Akimichi's clan kekkei genkai is reliant on the persons calories which Choji has burned plenty of today even after eating his emergency chips

"I'm good, I can keep fighting" Choji said as he slowly stood up

'Naruto! Choji's tired, but he's not standing down' Neji thought to the group

'Has he eaten?' Sakura asked about her teammate

'He's already ate all his chips' Shikamaru answered

'Choji take a breather and I'll give you some food when I get there later' Naruto thought

"Okay!" Choji said eager to lay down, it wasn't long until he fell asleep

'Well I'm cutting Choji off since he's sleeping' Ino thought as she stopped the mind transmission to Choji

'You can cut off Kiba and Shino too, they fell asleep after we made it to the hospital' Hinata thought

'Where are you Hinata? I rather not have you alone right now' Neji thought

'I'm still at the hospital I'm helping around but I think I see some sound ninja sneaking around with my Byakugan' Hinata thought

'Alright, Sasuke, Sakura, and Tenten have you turned in the sand siblings in yet' Naruto asked

'Yeah they're giving Mr. Ibiki a lot of information' Sakura thought

'There are already some Anbu passing the intel to the third Hokage' Tenten thought

'Me and Sakura can head to the hospital to help protect it' Sasuke thought

'No! Sakura you and Tenten go, I'll have Lee catch up to you for backup' Naruto thought

'On my way!' Lee thought as he heads from the bunkers with no weights on

'Sasuke I need you to help me gather the leaf ninja, so Itachi can do an all out attack' Naruto thought

'How?' Sasuke asked

'The police force should know what to do' Naruto said

'Very well but it's quite a ways away from me' Sasuke mentioned

'We'll join you' Shikamaru thought

'Shikamaru and I can catch up with you to the Uchiha clan' Neji thought

'While I'll... join Naruto…. And maybe... help out where... we can' Ino thought

'Ino you okay?' Sakura asked

'Yeah just… been keeping… the connection up for… awhile now…' Ino thought

'Ino rest up we have our missions you should stay with Choji' Tenten thought

'Yeah Ino drop the mind transmission' Shikamaru thought

'But-'

'It's okay Ino! Sakura and Sasuke do you two still have the earpieces I gave you?' Naruto asked

'Yeah'

'Yes'

'Alright we'll communicate that way since us three are not together right now' Naruto thought as the transmission ended

Sakura's group

"Wow I never knew that having that many voices in your head could be so draining" Tenten said as she and Sakura made it to the hospital

"You okay?" Sakura asked as she saw Lee catch up with them

"Yeah but that fight with Temari made me use more chakra than I had planned on, I'm probably just going stick to with long range for now" Tenten said as Hinata joined them outside of the hospital as they waited for the sound ninja to get close

"No worries ladies I can protect you all" Lee said giving the girls a thumbs up

"Thanks Lee" Sakura said who would normally be annoyed but frankly today has been a lot to handle and Lee was the least of her problems

Then three chunin sound ninja appeared before the four genin

"Well Lee since you didn't get to fight you might as well go all out" Tenten said as she jumped to the back with her scrolls ready

"Right!" Lee said as he entered his pose and chakra engulfed him and his skin turning red signalling he at least opened the third gate

Sasuke's group

Neji and Shikamaru caught up to Sasuke fast as even though he would never admit it Sasuke wasn't at full strength or speed

"You know the moment we reach the police station he's done for today" Shikamaru said to Neji regarding Sasuke tired condition

"As are you" Neji added

"Me?" Shikamaru questioned

"Yes you think only two of the Ino-Shika-Cho combination is exhausted and not the other" Neji asked the rhetorical question as Shikamaru didn't deny it

"What about you? We can't leave you alone out here" Shikamaru said "Its already bad that Lee had to go off by himself and Naruto has been by himself for a while now"

"I will make my way back to Hinata as I must protect her above all costs" Neji said as its his responsibility as a branch member

"Don't worry about Naruto" Sasuke said as he slowed down enough to hear the other two "He can fight all day if he has to"

About five minutes later they made it to the Uchiha Police Station

"Sasuke!? What are you doing out here?" the police chief asked the former police chief's son

"The village is preparing to lead a final assault against the sound village and we need to the police force to help gather the rest of the civilians and so the force can help attack" Sasuke explained

"Hmm well they haven't really made it to the Uchiha district so I don't know if it really regards that level of security" the chief said

"You can't be serious!" Neji said upset at the fact that the chief was acting as if the invasion wasn't a big deal

"Calm down Neji" Shikamaru warned him

Sasuke noticed this as well but knows his clan better than Neji and Shikamaru "Itachi is leading the attack you know" Sasuke mentions

"Clan head Itachi?!" the chief said

"Yeah apparently he's on the front lines with a bunch of chunin and jonin waiting for the right moment, and what better moment is it for the Uchiha clan than for us to be the final push that seals victory while also being led by a fellow Uchiha" Sasuke said

"Very well" the chief said as he turned to the assistant "Alert all home Uchiha to protect the civilians in the village and prepare to win this invasion!"

"Alright Naruto the police are moving out" Sasuke said into his earpiece

"Good now rest up! Tell Neji that Hinata is still at the hospital" Naruto said

"Neji!" Sasuke said gaining the Hyuga's attention "Hospital"

"Understood" Neji said as he took off

"What are you going to-" Sasuke started to ask Shikamaru only to find him asleep in the nearby chair "Honestly sleep sounds good"

Back with Sakura's group

Sakura threw the last sound ninja towards Lee only for him to dropkick him down onto the ground forcing him into unconsciousness

Hinata then struck his chakra points to further disable him and Tenten tied him along with the other three up onto a nearby tree for Anbu pickup

"Okay Naruto my group is done" Sakura said to her earpiece as she and her group were breathing heavily as they defeated the 4 sound ninja planning to attack the hospital

"Can you all make it back to the hospital?" Naruto asked loud enough for the four to hear

Hinata and Tenten gave tired nods and Lee gave a halfhearted thumbs up

"Yeah we should make it" Sakura said

"Good rest up. As you were fighting Shika and the others got to the police station and now the Uchiha are flooding the village, so they're taking it easy, Neji's on his way however as he needs to watch Hinata" Naruto said

"What about you?" Hinata asked into the earpiece

With Naruto

"I'm with Hana Inuzuka, Torune Aburame, Fu Yamanaka, and Makaro Akimichi, they're keeping me safe" Naruto said into his earpiece

"More like you're keeping us safe" Makaro said with Fu nodding

"Naruto I just got word that Itachi Uchiha is ready to lead the attack" Torune said "Most of the civilians are out of harm's way and everyone is ready to push the sound ninja out of the village"

"Well gotta go Hinata! Stay safe!" Naruto said into the earpiece

"Are you sure you want to fight? You can go back and rest with your friends it has been a long day for you" Hana asked the young genin

"I'll rest when I get tired" Naruto said as he started to twirl his kunai "You ready?"

The four nodded and the five leaped towards Itachi to help finish the fight


	14. Ch14: Promotion

The whole village was gathered around the Hokage mountain, everyone was wearing formal clothing as it was a special occasion

The naming of the new Hokage, the fifth Hokage: Itachi Uchiha

Most didn't see this coming as Itachi is an Anbu and his accomplishments are not well known to the civilian population but they knew of him when he was a child prodigy and most of the ninja world fears Itachi of the Sharingan

Itachi obviously wasn't the first choice, they asked Jiraiya and Tsunade first but they quickly declined, and then it fell towards ninja like Kakashi and Danzo but ultimately, they wanted to embrace the youth and chose Itachi Uchiha also making him the first Uchiha Hokage

Approximately a week later

Hokage Office

"Well it was a unanimous decision and we wanted to form the soaring leaves as an official team for the hidden leaf village" Itachi said to the genin in front of him

"Team?" questioned Sakura

"Yes, every village has a team or group that gives the village notoriety like the mists seven swordsmen" Itachi explained "And the village leaders thought it was time now as you 9 already have a reputation in the ninja world"

"Whats this teams purpose? is it just for fame?" Shino asked

"You are to be my personal unit once you have developed more, if the Anbu handles things for me in the dark, you will handle things for me in the light, as well as be a team that will more than likely deal with things that maybe to difficult for regular shinobi but don't require the stealth and assassination skill set that the Anbu do" Itachi said

"Its like choosing to kill someone with a fireball jutsu or with a sword, they both kill but their approach are vastly different" Sasuke said

"Thats a good way of looking at it as someone with Naruto's or Kiba's skill could be useful in Anbu, it probably doesn't fit their approach to being a shinobi

"Why us? And why not include other ninja like Kakashi-sensei or Team guy?" Hinata asked

"Well you might not know this but you nine are already in the bingo book so it's easy to group you all together regardless if we did this or not, but it was important to us to keep the group young and not just our top ninja like Kakashi and Guy, and team Guy has some potential to join this group but with the overlap of the Byakugan with Neji and the special condition of Rock Lee we felt to not have them apart of this.. For now," Itachi said

"What do you mean for now? So, you plan to expand this group later" Shikamaru asked

"Well this group covers most of the villages clans, with the Uchiha and Hyuga to Nara and Inuzuka" Itachi said "Only ones not in this group are the Senju, Sarutobi and Shimura"

"So, we also help represent the hidden leaf village" Kiba said

"What about me and Sakura?" Naruto asked "We're just civilians"

"Sakura represents the average civilians that can be great like Kakashi and Jiraiya, and you Naruto may not have it official you are adopted by Tsunade making you a Senju and being half Uzumaki can help support that bloodline" Itachi said

"Leaving Sarutobi and Shimura" Ino commented

"Yes, and as more and more ninja come and grow stronger you have the option to pass your role over to someone else like how the mist swordsmen pass their swords" Itachi said "Which leads me to next issue of business promotions"

6 flak jackets were laid on the desk "In my opinion you all deserve to be chunin after what you all displayed but the voters didn't get the majority approval of three of you" Itachi said "So Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Namikaze, Kiba Inuzuka, Shikamaru Nara, Shino Aburame and Hinata Hyuga you are now chunin of the hidden leaf"

He specifically passed out the jackets to each genin now chunin, then Shikamaru noticed something "Why is there a red leaf with a number and symbol on the chest area of the left side of the jacket"

"We decided it would be easy to classify you all as numbers and the leaf helps represent your role in the village as the new team and obviously the symbol is your clan, So Sasuke's 1, Naruto's 2, Kiba's 3, Shikamaru you are 4, Shino is 5 and Hinata is 6, Sakura, Choji and Ino will be 7, 8, and 9 but won't have the vests until they pass their next exams" Itachi explained

"Cool but why am I number 2? I'm better than Sasuke" Naruto said

"You wish" Sasuke said

"If you must know it's just the order of who we promoted which was random as well" Itachi said "10 and 11 will be for the Sarutobi and Shimura who ultimately joins you in the future and possibly more if you really want other ninjas such as Lee, Neji, and Tenten to join your team"

"Who's in charge?" Kiba asked

"Well the chunin and jonin will always be in charge over the genin but the leader is up to you all" Itachi said "You also don't need a leader"

"Well if we need a leader I vote Naruto!" Ino said as she put her hand up with Hinata quickly after

"Guys…" Naruto said trying to stop them

"Yeah you did well instructing us during the invasion" Choji said as he put his hand up with Shino, and Shikamaru putting their hands up

"I'll surpass you soon enough! But for now, you're best to lead" Kiba said putting his hand up

"I still don't like how you treat some situations but for now you are most suited" Sakura put her hand up

"No, I'm not voting this idiot the leader we are all better off just being equals" Sasuke said

"Well you all can sort that out yourselves you are all dismissed" Itachi said amused by the 12-13-year old's

"Um excuse me may I ask why I wasn't promoted?" Ino asked Itachi

"Me as well" Sakura said with Choji nodding along

"Very well, as I said I would have promoted you if it was only my decision but your critiques were understandable" Itachi said as he pulled out the three files "Choji has the strength and technique but his assertiveness and lack of leadership isn't what the village needs it to be at this time"

"I-I can see that" Choji said a little upset after hearing his critique but was mature enough to not let it be visible

"Sakura also has strength and it seems you have some qualities of leadership but according to reports you constantly have been at odds with your teammates especially Mr. Inuzuka here and you've been noted to questions orders constantly from others such as Naruto during the invasion" Itachi said "A chunin is a leader to genin but is a follower to superior chunin, jonin and me the Hokage myself so basically you can't always be right and be more open-minded"

"Wow" Sakura said taking those words to heart

"Ino you were to closest one only being one vote away from promotion but even though you have shown good enough skills in combat although as shinobi with a lot of support jutsu it was hard to scale and you've shown sufficient leadership, however you still show a dependency on your teammates Naruto and Shikamaru, which is fine as you see they are worthy of being chunin but that dependency is holding you back from that final vote" Itachi finished

"Can I hear Naruto's and Shikamaru's" Ino said curious to hear her teammates reports

"I may as well read them all" Itachi said as he grabbed the remaining files "Team Guy were all promoted as well and they had the skills to be promoted last year but this previous year gave them the mental fortitude for promotion"

"Makes sense they never really lost their cool during that whole invasion" Naruto commented

"Naruto Namikaze, has a deadly arsenal and shows great teamwork and is knowledgeable enough to give commands however he is a little cocky but he's still a kid and has room to grow" Itachi said

"Hey I'm almost 13!" Naruto said as a few people laughed as he was one of the younger members based on months as only Hinata is younger than him

"Shikamaru Nara, intelligence beyond his years, and combat is sufficient enough to be chunin, needs more resolve" Itachi continued "Hinata Hyuga, combat is excellent even among the Hyuga clan, and is knowledgeable to be promoted does need to take charge more"

"Seems like I barely made it" Hinata commented

"Well honestly outside Naruto and Sasuke you all barely made it" the fifth Hokage admitted "Kiba: needs more maturity but is a good leader and excellent combat, Shino: intelligent but needs more assertiveness in leadership, and Sasuke: excellent combat expertise, needs more experience in the ninja world"

"So it seems if we have the leadership we don't have the combat skills and vice versa" Shikamaru deduced

"And if your advantage in one isn't sufficient enough to balance the other then you weren't promoted" Shino added

"Plus if you're good enough you might not be mentally ready" Hinata said

"In a much more basic terms yes, chunin is the rank where you begin to become more specialized in an area to be more of an asset to the village so if you aren't balanced now then you shouldn't start specializing until you're ready" Itachi said "Now enjoy your time off we all need it"

The nine rookies proceeded to leave the office as Itachi returned to his paperwork


	15. Ch15: Psycho

**I'm doing a short little arc of missions for Naruto and friends, so sorry if this isn't what you want :(**

* * *

Naruto Age 13

Naruto, Ino, and Hinata were investigating a disturbance in a nearby town

They met with the town's leader and located their enemies base of operations in a cave

"Alright I'm going to go and scout you two stay here" Naruto said

"You know this is why I have the mind transfer jutsu Naruto" Ino said "I can just transfer into a squirrel"

"I know but we don't know what we're dealing with so us looking after your body can be a problem since you can't use your mind transfer with the mind transmission so you couldn't warn us fast enough" Naruto said

"Then let me go with the Byakugan I can see from a better distance and scout better" Hinata said

"No" Naruto said

"Why not? You have to stop protecting me Naruto I'm a chunin" Hinata said

"I'm not doubting your abilities Hinata or your's Ino but with the Flying thunder god I can be in and out and back to the town with you two in an instant" Naruto said as he leapt from the tree "So trust me"

Naruto sneaked into cave using his Uncle Jiraiya's spy training and made his way in undetected

"He's sweet but can be a real jerk at times" Ino said

"He's becoming really reliant on that jutsu" Hinata commented with concern in her voice

"Yeah but Asuma-sensei trained him to be able to fight without it so he can handle himself" Ino said

"Maybe but isn't it weird how Hokage has been sending him out on a lot of solo missions lately just because he can use the flying thunder god" Hinata said

"I guess but that technique is too useful not to use" Ino said

"Yeah…" Hinata sighed

"You really love him don't you" Ino said as Hinata started blushing

"What?! N-no I mean yes as a friend but" Hinata said but Ino was smirking

"It's okay you don't have to admit it to me but you should let him know before it's too late" Ino said to her being completely serious "You have no idea when it will be your last mission or his" she said repeating the advice Asuma and Kurenai gave her

And in a blink of an eye something hit Hinata in the back of the neck knocking her out

"What the-!" Ino said as she was too knocked out

With Naruto

Naruto was now deep in the cave, he noticed a fire glow so he assumed this is where the attackers were making camp at so he stood on the outside listening in for information

"So boss said we should be able to leave by tomorrow morning" One voice said

"Yeah he just has some business to attend to and we will start packing tonight" a different voice said

"We're probably going to take a boat at the docks early in the morning so we can head to the land of water" a third voice said

'So the docks, we should be able to ambush them before they get on the boat' Naruto thought as he proceeded to exit the cave with newly acquired information

He headed towards the tree where he last saw Ino and Hinata to only find a note

"Naruto Namikaze if you want to find your two little girlfriends find us at the dock shelter" Naruto read the note aloud

Naruto was pissed but he didn't show it as he kept his face neutral but his fist was clenching the paper tightly

Naruto quickly made his way to the docks, he found only one building which he could assume was the shelter

He walked in the shelter ready for a fight but was shocked to see what he saw

"Well, well, well, you finally came" a man said

Naruto couldn't believe it, he saw Hinata and Ino tied with strange looking binds with a sword held to both their backs by two ninja as they were seated facing in front of each other gagged and in the middle of the four was the sound jonin Naruto fought and defeated at the academy during the invasion

"What do you want Saiko?" Naruto said as he took a step forward but the other ninjas held the swords closer to the girls back making him take the step back

"During our fight you might have not known this but you killed my sister, protecting those stupid academy students!" Saiko said

"Well you shouldn't have attacked our village" Naruto said as he was analyzing the situation

"And you shouldn't have killed my sister!" Saiko yelled losing his cool

The room was long and narrow and even with his speed Naruto didn't know if he could grab both the girls before they both got stabbed, it seemed whenever he would make a movement the ninja were very trigger happy with their swords so he couldn't reach for his kunai, even then his kunai throwing speed wouldn't be fast enough based on the room length and his current kunai throwing speed

If he was Sasuke he might have been able to but he wasn't as efficient in kunai throwing as Sasuke and his brother were.

"You're probably wondering why you can't use your fathers famous jutsu to teleport to these lovely girls Saiko said "Well we sent some chakra throughout their bodies to find the seals location, and they're lucky you're not perverted since they were in visible safe areas or we might had to get handsy"

The other two ninja chuckled as Hinata and Ino looked disgusted

"So we burned the marks off so you can't use your jutsu" Saiko finished

A mark on Ino's forearm and Hinata's leg were visible showing where they got burned which also meant where Naruto had marked them

"So I have a simple question for you young Naruto, who do you love more?" Saiko asked

"What are you talking about?" Naruto questioned

"Well you took someone I love so it's only right I take someone you love, so you choose who you love and the other lives and we leave peacefully" Saiko said

"What's stopping you from killing both" Naruto asked as he was trying to form a plan

"Nothing really but I don't want to kill both right away, one day I'll be back to kill the other and maybe another future love interest if you happen to love again" Saiko laughed out "Maybe even a family member?"

'He's insane!' Naruto thought to himself

"So Naruto who do you love more, I'll give you 10 seconds, 10...9...8…" Saiko started counting

Hinata and Ino were looking at him wondering what he's going to do

Naruto was looking back and forth between the two trying to choose, he then thinks about their abilities, Hinata has medical training so she could help heal Ino if she gets stabbed alongside him to increase her chance of survival so he made his choice

"I love Ino..." Naruto said making Ino and Hinata look at him in shock

"So you love Ino… Which means you're protecting the real one you love which means you love Hinata! Now kill her!" Saiko said as the ninja neared Hinata

"NO!" Naruto said as he teleported to the two girls and fled the scene

"Damn it!" Saiko said as he dropped a smoke bomb and he with his two ninja escaped

Naruto teleported back to the tree where they were originally and freed Hinata and Ino by enhancing his kunai with wind style and healed their burn marks with his healing jutsu

"How did you know you could still teleport to us?" Hinata asked

"The seal isn't as surface level as burning off the skin, its goes deeper than that, if I would have marked something material like your headbands then yes burning it will get rid of it, but the only way to get rid of my ability to teleport to that seal is to either kill me or cut off that part off your body" Naruto said as he finished healing Ino's burn

"Then why entertain him with that question?!" Ino asked

"Even though you still have the seal it takes more concentration at the attempt to burn it off, it's like dropping a note in water you can still read it but it becomes blurry and distorted, I didn't want to accidentally teleport outside the shelter or even into the swords by mistake" Naruto said

"So you were buying time?!" Hinata said

"I was also just trying to find his endgame, maybe it was for the sound village, maybe he wanted something from me but turns out he's just a psycho" Naruto answered her

"Did you really kill his sister?" Hinata asked not that she doesn't understand that killing is part of the job but how it affected Naruto

"I guess, I remember using the Rasengan on a female sound ninja but I never confirmed if she was killed since I didn't use full power" Naruto honestly said "Even if it was my first kill I've killed since then so I'm not too bothered by it"

"You have?!" Hinata questioned

"What do you think my solo missions have been like?" Naruto returned her question with a question

"I'm sorry I didn't mean-"

"Sorry I shouldn't have said it like that" Naruto apologized

No, it's okay I should have assumed such things" Hinata said

"No, I should have told you beforehand"

"Ahem" Ino interrupted the two "We do still have a mission"

"R-right!" the two said

"So the cave has the rest of the ninja, so if we take them out" Naruto said until he glanced at Hinata "I mean knock them out then we can be ready to take down Saiko and his two ninja to finish the mission"

"Alright how should we go in?" Ino asked

"I don't know how strong they are so to be safe I'll go first to gauge them and when I give the signal Ino use your mind destruction and Hinata disable the leftovers with your gentle fist" Naruto gave the plan

"Alright!"

The plan went as said

Naruto went in first to gauge the enemy's strength he noticed they each couldn't be stronger than a low ranked chunin so he signaled Ino to use her clan's jutsu as teleported out of range

Ino's jutsu worked successfully as the enemy were constantly beating each other up, Naruto saw it take to long so he and Hinata went in to finish knocking the enemies out

"That's the last one" Hinata said as she finished the final restraint

"What now?" Ino asked

"We wait for Saiko" Naruto said

"Are you sure?" Ino asked "I don't want him getting into your head"

"I'm fine" Naruto said a little coldly

"He did just threaten us and even I could tell you were getting upset and losing your patience back in the shed" Ino pointed out

"He's here!" Hinata said as with her Byakugan she see's the three ninja approaching the room they were in

"Any game plan this round?" Ino asked

"Saiko wasn't that strong when we fought last time but it's clear the other two are more physically talented than him so me and Hinata will take down the other two while you should be able to knock out Saiko without your clan's jutsu" Naruto said

"Well, well, well, look it's Namikaze and his two girlfriends, and they managed to take out my men" Saiko said as he became visible to the leaf ninja

"Not my girlfriends" Naruto said mostly to himself as this notion of Ino and Hinata being his girlfriends is brought up again

"So typically I would make a plan to try to capture the girls again but I really just want to take you down! Boys get him!" Saiko said as his two ninjas dashed in with swords in hands

Naruto withdraw his kunai to deflect the sword strikes, he was being pushed back as opposed to Karui and Omoi who had a offensive and defensive style these two were both offensive

"Ino get Saiko!" Naruto said as he dodged a downwards slash as he kicked the first ninja back

"Right!" Ino said as she chased Saiko who started to avoid the girl

Hinata got into her airpalm stance and then released the air palm into one of the ninjas back as it pushed him into the nearest wall

Naruto noticed the opening and prepared his Rasengan "Hinata one more!"

Hinata again got into her stance as Naruto prepared his Rasengan in one hand as he defended against the ninja with the other

Hinata released the airpalm and it pushed the ninja into Naruto who extended his arm to make the ninja fly into the spiraling sphere of chakra which effectively knocked him out

"Hinata help Ino I'll tie these two up" Naruto said as Hinata went to help her other blonde teammate

Ino was doing good against Saiko, as she seem to be able to avoid his strikes yet still get a few hits of her own in but nothing decisive

'I knew that I'm no real offensive threat but even I should be able to beat this guy without assistance' Ino thought as she took out the sword of the thunder god

Ino did a quick leg sweep which Saiko jumped over and as she made her way up she tagged him with the sword electrocuting him and knocking him out right before Hinata arrived as the two shared an acknowledging look

"Good work team!" Naruto said congratulating his teammates

They later met with the town leader and told them of the enemy ninjas location where they were restrained, the leader said he'll repay them when they get the money to send back to the village and asks for the leaf village to take care of the enemy ninja, and with that the leaf ninja left to go back towards the village

They made it back to the village easily as Naruto just teleported them to the gate entrance

"I can handle the mission report guys you two can go home" Naruto said

"Actually I'm hungry want to meet me at Ichiraku's" Hinata said which he nodded as she left

"Wait so we are not gonna talk about what happened back there?" Ino asked

"What is there to talk about?" Naruto questioned

"Naruto you seem upset at the thought of one of us dying back there" Ino said

"Why wouldn't I? You two are important to me" Naruto said

"Yeah but I don't want to be the reason that you die because you're trying to protect me" Ino said

"Die? I barely got touched back there" Naruto boasted

"Really?" Ino said as she grabbed his arm as he winched in pain "I saw you get sliced back there when you saved us from Saiko you just persevered through it since you weren't losing too much blood"

"Okay fine I got cut, I'm not invincible but I rather take that than lose you… and Hinata... and anyone else!" Naruto said

"Naruto you're not going to lose us" Ino said reaching for Naruto's shoulder for reassurance

"I rather not take that chance" Naruto said "I let Saiko live and he came back and almost killed you"

"Naruto Saiko was… a psycho you couldn't have known he would have planned revenge like that" Ino said

"I let him live because I felt sorry for him and I used to believe everyone had the right to enjoy life but how can I do it when people still do the wrong thing after getting a second chance?" Naruto said

"You never know until you give them the chance… look at Gaara he calmed down and became a nice person because you became his friend. You could have killed him and got rid of the problem but you would have eliminated the possibility of him and his family enjoying life" Ino said

"..."

"Look we're partners you got my back and I got yours, that includes all nine of us" Ino said referring to their old classmates and fellow rookies "Just remember you got friends to help you and that includes with decisions like that so don't be afraid to rely on us"

"Thanks Ino that means a lot" Naruto thanked his teammate

"Now who do you really love more? Me or Hinata?" Ino asked Naruto as he began to sweat

"Gotta go!" Naruto said as he teleported away

"You can't escape this!" Ino said

Hokage office

Naruto finished explaining the mission to Itachi with Hiruzen sitting in the corner hearing as well

"Good work Naruto, we will pay you and your team when the money arrives" Itachi said

"Thanks Itachi" Naruto said as he still is casual with Itachi as he known him since he was a baby

"We noticed that we have been a little too focused on your flying thunder god jutsu and not as your overall skills a shinobi" Itachi said "So we're going to diversify your missions and have you work with teams more from now on"

"Are you sure?" Naruto asked

"Yes besides the fifth Hokage will need a new right hand so having teamwork is essential" Hiruzen said shocking Naruto

"Wait me!?" Naruto questioned

"Yes, we have been embracing the youth more and more ever since Itachi has became Hokage allowing the older ninja to enjoy their lives and rest properly, and based on all the young ninja the soaring leaves along with team guy are the among the best in the village even though you all have growing to do" Hiruzen said "And at the top of the list we have Neji, Sasuke, and yourself Naruto"

"Sasuke's abilities are too similar to my own leaving it mainly between you and Neji, and as skilled as Neji is your overall diversity with healing, ninjutsu, sealing, and stamina balances out my genjutsu, dojutsu, taijutsu and intelligence" Itachi said "Making us cover each others disadvantages, why else do you think you and my brother perform well with each other"

It was true whenever Sasuke and Naruto teamed up they were almost unbeatable, Sasuke's fire and lightning get supported and covered by Naruto's wind, water and earth is just a simple example of how they mesh well when on missions

"Yes, you will be my personal bodyguard, you will still go missions but whenever I need to leave the village you will be right beside me" Itachi said

"Wow! That's a big honor but I'm only 13 almost 14 am I even qualified, besides Neji seems more of a protector than I am" Naruto said

"Neji does have the defensive advantage over you as does most Hyugas but I have been working on a way to improve our defenses" Itachi said obviously hinting at something

"Yeah same here but mine is more evasive" Naruto said surprising Hiruzen

"What jutsu are you working on now" Hiruzen asked in disbelief

Naruto since his chunin exams had not learned many jutsus, he learned a jutsu for lightning, and fire but relies more on wind, water, and earth. With his earth style: iron skin he improved his defense and strength, with the rasengan he improved his raw power, his elemental seals are being used by his group supporting his elemental needs but he still learned Asuma's burning ash for destruction purposes, and his chains and flying thunder god takes all of those abilities and adds a new level of versatility

* * *

 **Naruto databook stats are**

 **Ninjutsu 5**

 **Taijutsu 3**

 **Genjutsu 2**

 **Strength 3**

 **Speed 5 (+)**

 **Intelligence 3.5**

 **Hand Signs 3**

 **Stamina 4**

 **Total:28.5 (+)**

 **He's basically a jonin without the promotion and experience**

* * *

"It's still a work in progress but it should allow me to move and react faster than ever before" Naruto said "But I told uncle Jiraiya I would finish my toad training before I work on new jutsu"

"Well you will have time if you accept the new position" Itachi said

"Of course I accept how could I say no" Naruto said as he was thinking that he really couldn't say no to this request

"Good now go home and get some rest" Itachi said dismissing the chunin

"Yeah I got to go before Hinata gets mad I missed dinner again" Naruto said teleporting again

Ichiraku Ramen

Hinata was sitting there making light conversation with Teuchi and Ayame

"Hey sorry I'm late was talking to Itachi and Gramps about something important" Naruto said as he teleported to the seat next to Hinata

"Did you teleport to me or the ramen stand?" Hinata asked

"...You of course" Naruto said as he saw the bowl in front of him "You ordered for me?!"

"Yeah I already know your favorite bowl so I let them know in advance" Hinata said

"Thank you! You're the best!"

"So tell me what was so important the Hokage had to talk to you about for so long?" she asked as started eating as he started

"Oh just about being Itachi's bodyguard" he said as he was slurping noodles

"Wait that's a big honor!" Hinata said as she stopped eating

"Yeah but you know I still got some ways to go before its official" Naruto said

"Its still impressive" Hinata said "We should celebrate!"

"No lets not, besides its probably best that its not public knowledge"

"Fine… so are you finally going to tell me about your first kill?" Hinata changed the subject causing Naruto to choke on his noodles

"What?!" Naruto asked

"I want to know!" Hinata said "...I've... never killed before"

"Its nothing spectacular, it was simple A rank solo mission I had to just throw my kunai into a hideout and sliced the targets neck and leave" Naruto said

"How did it make you feel?" Hinata asked

"Honestly... I felt… horrible… I was mortified by how quickly that mans life was ended in just a instant and I'm pretty sure he didn't even know I was there" Naruto answered "It never hit me until now that everything could be over in just a second"

"Naruto…"

"Yeah I wouldn't have been promoted to jonin, I wouldn't get to know if we ever get together…" Naruto said as he grabbed Hinata's hand

"Naruto…"

"I get it, you like Lee and can't return my feelings, but to never know a first kiss, whether Asuma-sensei gets with Kurenai-sensei, will Sasuke get his revenge, will Uncle Jiraiya ever get that date with Aunt Tsunade, how will my friends end up, will the world ever attain true peace, never get to see Ama grow up…"

"Naruto you…"

"There you are big bro!" Ama said as she made her way into the ramen stand "I've been looking for you!"

Naruto let go of Hinata's hand and shifted his attention towards his little sister "Hey Ama why have you been looking for me?"

"You said you would train me soon! Remember!" she said as she took her seat

"I will just not today! We just got back from a mission" Naruto said

"Oh! Was it cool?! Did you save a princess?! Or stop a tyrannical dictator? Or-?!"

"Well not like that… but I beat up some guys!" Naruto said

"...Cool! You have to show me the moves you did! Promise?!" Ama said

"Promise!"


	16. Ch16: Waterfall

**Thank you for all of the reviews! I DM'd a few of you already responding to your reviews and comments but for now on I'm just going to post my responses here**

 **REVIEW RESPONSE:**

 **Useful76: Thank you for your review and criticisms. My plan is to have a lot of the repercussions from the delay to take place during the 'shippuden' time period and I'm just establishing some bases currently. When writing a Naruto story unless you do an OC or completely change the story you have to stay mostly on the original timeline as a lot of the events especially in part 1 of Naruto is all connected so changing one has an effect on everything and I have an endgame in mind that mostly follows the original timeline**

 **MaelstromNamikaze: Honestly probably not :p I like the idea of having them as best friends but I'm never fully decided on pairings so I could always change my mind as seen with my hints of Naruto and Ino so nothing is set in stone**

 **Markos Mcbrec: If I understood correctly you liked the Naruto and Hinata plot so thanks!**

 **Era-romance: Yeah looking back it made no sense but thank you**

 **guest from Jan 18: Sorry if you think me using 'Pikachu' took you out of the story, its not a Pokemon crossover or anything its more of a homage that Naruto has a lightning mouse summon that for visualization purposes I said look like Pikachu and named it that for convenience, the summon will return but I'll be more hesitant to use it from now on as I'm aware not everyone is a fan of other series like Pokemon**

* * *

 **Only a few more chapters of the in between years so enjoy my chapter of the waterfall Ova special**

* * *

Naruto Age 14

Hokage room

Itachi was still getting new to being the new Hokage so he has Hiruzen occasionally still around to give him advice and guidance

"Alright we have four of the soaring leaves here I need to give you a mission" Itachi said

Naruto, Shino, Choji, and Sakura were currently waiting to be given a mission

"Do we have to keep being called that? Why not something cooler?" Naruto said

"I don't know I think it's cool to be apart of a group that represents the village" Choji said as he eats some sort of snack from a bag

"I know but why not just something simple that represents us like the seven ninja swordsman" Naruto said

"Then what do you think it should be then Mr. smart guy" Sakura said

"I don't know I like the nine blades of the leaf ya know because a leaf has tiny blades on it and there are nine of us" Naruto suggested

"We'll take it under consideration Naruto" Itachi said which Naruto was pleased with "Now the mission" Itachi said making the four pay more attention

Naruto and Shino were wearing there chunin jackets while Sakura and Choji didn't but still had their red leaf number patches as they still need to be recognized,, Ino does the same thing on missions

"Outside we have the leader of the hidden waterfall village who needs an escort back to his village" Itachi stated

"Why was he here?" Naruto asked

"Naruto let him finish!" Sakura said to her teammate

"It's fine Sakura, we were trying to grow our alliance with their village with the Leaf sound war still upon us however he didn't want to as he's still new as a leader with his father's recent passing" Itachi said

The Leaf and Sound were currently in a war after the invasion the Sound orchestrated almost two years ago

However it was a slow war as with the Sound truly hidden village the Leaf haven't been able to attack properly, and the Sound currently doesn't have the manpower to try to fight the Leaf

So the Leaf treats everything as normal for the time being, but most still know that an attack is always possible

"How were you trying to grow the alliance?" Naruto asked as Sakura once again told him to stop

Itachi looked at Hiruzen behind him as outside of select jonin no one has asked him about village details, Hiruzen nodded his head in amusement as this isn't the first time Naruto has gotten curious about how the village is run "We were trying to in simple terms make the Waterfall village apart of the Leaf village"

"That's a bit more than an alliance" Shino pointed out

"Yes, but they have resources such as their access to water that would be helpful and they need our resources like our wood" Itachi said

"I don't see how that means they have to join us?" Sakura said

"It doesn't but they wanted more than just wood they wanted us to help improve their village as a whole including training their ninja" Hiruzen answered for Itachi

"Yes, so with those terms we needed a bigger incentive which they were less willing to do, so we currently agreed with the original and he needs an escort back to his village to finalize paperwork" Itachi said

"Shouldn't this be a jonin mission?" Choji asked

"This is only a B-rank so two chunin are fine and you and Sakura possess enough skill to support the missing third chunin that would usually be assigned for this team" Hiruzen said as Itachi tossed the mission scroll to the group

"So you will leave in an hour and meet with Shibuki the leader of their village at the gate" Itachi said "And I know you see each others as equals but on record I need a leader"

"Shino you're in charge" Naruto said as he pats Shino on the back

"Naruto you are more suited to lead, why, the chunin exams for example" Shino said

Hiruzen and Itachi were always interested in how Naruto refuses to be in charge especially after the mission with him, Hinata and Ino about a year ago and enjoys not having that responsibility so they like to see people poke his brain a little to understand why

"You are much smarter than me and know how to keep a calm head" Naruto explained "Besides Sakura would probably listen to you better than me"

Sakura was about to protest that but she realized she would just be proving his point. Sakura doesn't dislike Naruto in actuality she really appreciates having him around but she doesn't appreciate his casual nature especially to serious topics like talking to the Hokage for example

Choji didn't seem to care since he knows he's a only a genin and would follow whoever's in charge lead no matter what. But he knows that Naruto is the strongest so having him in charge could put the group more at ease

"Very well if that's what you think is best then I'll be in charge" Shino resided

Shino will take this opportunity to observe Naruto out in the field as this is the first time they have been on a mission together with none of their jonin sensei's present.

"Alright soaring leaves or should I say nine blades of the leaf numbers 5, 2, 7, and 8 go and prepare for the mission! Dismissed!" Itachi declared as the four ninja left

1 hour later at the Gate Entrance

The team was standing there waiting as the leader of the waterfall village was talking to Kotetsu and Izumo at the gate entrance

He walked over and gave them a quick look over and introduced himself

"I'm Shibuki leader of the waterfall village pleased to meet you" Shibuki said

"I'm Shino Aburame and this is Choji Akimichi, Sakura Haruno, and Naruto Namikaze, we'll get you to your village safely in no time" Shino said introducing his teammates

"Aren't you all a little young to be ninja, chunin nonetheless" Shibuki said as they started walking

They had a simple formation with Choji and Sakura in front and Shino and Naruto behind Shibuki in a box-like formation

"We're all 15 years old except me I'm still 14, me and Shino have been chunin for almost two years and Sakura and Choji are chunin in all but name" Naruto said "So we're pretty on par with the rest of our village"

"Wow I had no idea we only have a few chunin and jonin ourselves and they take a long time to be promoted" Shibuki said

"Yeah I remember in the forest of death we ran into some waterfall genin they weren't that strong" Choji said nonchalantly

"Choji!" Sakura said as she doesn't want to offend the waterfall village leader

"What you were there too? Kiba took them all out and we just watched as he got the scroll" Choji said "Although he is a chunin now and were still genin"

"Yeah our genin take a longer time to get there combat skills up to standards" Shibuki said "I myself am considered chunin and I'm 20 years old I fear what you're 20 year old ninja are like"

"Isn't Itachi 20 now?" Naruto asked his thoughts out loud

"Yeah he's 5 years older than Sasuke who's 15 so yeah our Hokage is 20 years old he was a prodigy though" Sakura said doing the simple math out loud

Shibuki heard this and it only re-insured how much he wants the leaf village to help grow his own village

Back in the Leaf village

Ichiraku Ramen

Ama was looking for Naruto with only a few months left before her genin exam she really needs the only person to be able to teach her properly so she decides to check his favorite food spot

She bends behind the flaps only to see Teuchi and Ayame serving Ino, Asuma, and Kurenai

"Ah Ama nice seeing you" Ino said recognizing Naruto's little sister

"Hi… you're Naruto's teammate right?" Ama said not remembering her name but recognizes her face

"Yeah I'm Ino and I am Naruto's teammate and this is Asuma our sensei and Kurenai Asuma-sensei's girlfriend" Ino said

"What we're not…" Asuma and Kurenai said at the same time trying to deny their relationship making Ama laugh

"Nice to meet you Smokey-sensei and Red eye-sensei" Ama said noting Asuma smoking his cigarette and Kurenai's noticeable red eyes

"That's not…*sigh* you're almost exactly like a young Naruto" Asuma said more to himself "Nice to meet you as well!"

"Have any of you seen Naruto he said he would help tutor me for my upcoming genin exam" Ama asked the three as she took a seat and Teuchi started making her food

"I believe he's on a mission, I remember seeing him go in the building with Sakura earlier this morning" Kurenai said

"The annoying pink hair girl?" Ama asked as Ino started laughing

"Yeah that's Sakura!" Ino answered

"Do you know how long he will be gone for?" Ama asked

"I don't know but it couldn't be longer than a day maybe two?" Asuma answered the academy student

"Why don't you ask one of your teachers to help you?" Kurenai asked knowing that Iruka would be nice enough to do it

"Mizuki-sensei is so mean! Whenever I ask for help he either ignores or says no to me" Ama said "And Iruka-sensei is busy teaching the 1st year kids this year and doesn't have the time to teach anyone in my class not even that idiot Konohamaru can get help from him this year"

"That doesn't sound like Mizuki-sensei" Ino mentions which Asuma and Kurenai caught

Mizuki was never anyone's favorite teacher at the academy but to deny a student extra help is not like anyone at the academy making Ino wonder why Ama is getting this kind of treatment. While Asuma and Kurenai know the reason but they aren't allowed to talk about it openly especially around Ama

"Maybe Ino can help you she was one of the top students in her class even higher than Naruto!" Asuma said

"Then why is Naruto a chunin and she's still a genin" Ama said as Ino's eyes started twitching in annoyance

"I didn't show all the qualities to be a chunin at the time of my first exam but I'm more than ready now" Ino said trying to convince Ama that she was strong but Ama ignored her by eating her ramen in pure bliss

"It's okay Ino" Asuma said as he patted Ino's shoulder knowing her pride was just shot

Back on the mission

Well after picking up the garbage the mission took a sharp turn, the little civilian boy and girl's mother outside the village entrance had been attacked and managed to inform us of the danger before she passed out from the wound

Sakura and Choji stayed back with the kids and their mother so Sakura could heal and Choji to protect

As Naruto and Shino followed Shibuki into the waterfall village after they took out 3 of the 4 attackers. The problem is that Shibuki is a coward and the moment they arrived in the village he disappeared

"Shino you planted one of your insects on Shibuki right?" Naruto said as they began to fight the new attackers

"Yes" Shino said as he dodged a kunai swipe

"Then follow Shibuki I can handle everyone here" Naruto said as he knocked out the second of the three new attackers

"Naruto you are aware that…'Shino said trying to inform Naruto of the upcoming attackers

"Yes, which is why you need to find Shibuki fast" Naruto said

"Very well I'll leave you to it" Shino said as he dived in the water in search for Shibuki

Two water whips came from opposing sides towards Naruto but Naruto's quick reflexes dodged them

Naruto took out two kunai and began to flow wind chakra into them to help fend off the whips by cutting them before they make contact with him

When one whip would make there way towards him he would slice them to stop them from reaching them

He then blitzed two of the three attackers to engage the third in close quarters combat, the attacker was barely holding on to Naruto's assault but his teammates water whips kept distracting Naruto which made him keep jumping from opponent to opponent as he can't leave an opening against multiple opponents

Naruto saw an opening and started to charge a rasengan in hope to take out an attacker but he then heard a new voice

"Ah ah ah don't hurt them now or I will hurt your little friends!" Suien said holding up a knocked out Choji and a restrained Sakura

"Or I could knock you out before all that" Naruto said taunting his opponent

There were the three attackers surrounding Naruto; Kirisame, Murasame and Hisame and they all had their water whips ready, Suien was a considerable distance away holding his two teammates, now with Suien's hands tied with Sakura and Choji, Naruto might be fast enough to free the two before they can make a move but not knowing how Shino is doing is a problem as without their fourth teammate they can't attempt fleeing and not knowing Suien's abilities is not in his advantage

"Surrender now and your friends are safe" Suien said

Naruto put his hands up signalling defeat as he was then wrapped in the water whips and then electrocuted with electricity knocking him out. Sakura was then freaking out as Naruto laid unconscious

"Relax girly he's just knocked out, we're not after you leaf ninja just the Hero Water" Suien said

Shino had followed Shibuki discreetly as he knows that Shibuki didn't leave for no reason, he see's Shibuki open a cabinet to reveal a bottle of water. Shino knows that whatever this water is must be extremely important to abandon his protectors without warning

Shino followed him to see from above the hostages. Most of the civilians were tied in rope along with some low ranking genin. Sakura was in a net suspended from above and Choji is in the water whips as with his expansion jutsu ropes shouldn't be an issue while Naruto is hanged by some wire who is visibly more calm. Shino then sees to the side some higher ranking ninja based upon they were wearing flak jackets. And in a strange looking straight jacket was a girl with green hair who was thrashing about

"I can't let them have the Hero Water" Shibuki said to himself

"What is so important with this water?" Shino asked startling Shibuki of his sudden presence

"Where did you come from!" Shibuki said

Shino noted to himself that unlike his team and friends his presence isn't that great which could lead to startling others including allies

"Never mind that but the Hero's Water in short can increase a person's chakra at least 10 times at the cost of their lifespan being decreased by the same amount" Shibuki explained

"So if a person is supposed to die in 80 years but drinks the Hero's water to get 10 times stronger they will now die in 8" Shino said quickly doing the approximated math

"Yes but since we have no shinobi on the level of a kage we depend on this water more than we should but Suien wants it for himself" Shibuki said "It's the reason my father passed away and without this water there's no telling if we can protect ourselves"

'Hence why they wanted a bigger treaty' Shino noted to himself

By this time Suien was holding the little girl from earlier hostage with the threat of killing her, Choji was trying to break free but the water whips electricity kept shocking him, Naruto was calm as he was analyzing the situation

"3! 2! 1!" Suien said as he moved the kunai towards the girl

In a sudden burst Naruto's bindings broke and in that moment he dashed to save the girl and in the process taking the stab in the back, He was breathing heavily at this point but he needed to turn the tide in their favor so he quickly used his speed to get to Choji and used a quick swipe with the kunai he got stabbed with to free Choji of the water whips. Choji then proceeded to go on the offensive. Naruto tossed his kunai to Sakura who cut the net which was holding her. She immediately went to Naruto to provide first aid.

"How he shouldn't have been able to free himself" Murasame said as he dodged an enlarged fist from Choji

"That's because he didn't" Shino said revealing himself along with Shibuki at the bottom of the tree "My parasitic insects went and started eating away at the ninja wire"

"I could have teleported out but my hands and feet might have still been tied up so I waited" Naruto said as he lets Sakura heal him

"Hm some hero but with that brat getting healed it's four against two" Suien said counting only Choji and Shino as Shibuki is a coward and Naruto is getting healed by Sakura

Naruto looks over at the green haired girl from before, he notices her desire to help but he wasn't sure if she would be more of a hindrance or assistance at the moment. Naruto shares a look with Shino as he shifts his quickly to the orange eyed girl, Shino seemed hesitant but as he dodged a whip he nodded in agreement

"Alright if I do this please calm down" Naruto said to the girl restrained confusing Sakura who has been focusing on healing

"What are you talking about?" Sakura said

The girl nods towards Naruto as she stopped making rapid movements. Naruto reached for another kunai and threw it at the girl, the kunai ripped through the restraints freeing the girl. The girl then bursts wings from her back and flew towards Shibuki and the others

'A Jinchuriki' Naruto thought instinctively knowing the chakra

Choji managed to defeat Murasame and Shino was dealing with Kirisame as the girl engaged Hisame. However Suien was pissed not only did he lose his advantage, it was by a kid

"You brat this is your fault" said Suien who started to charge towards Naruto and Sakura

Naruto started to weave through hand signs for his jutsu while Sakura was scared but stood her ground. Then out of nowhere a tornado of water appeared cutting Suien off from Naruto and Sakura

"You will not lay another hand on them" Shibuki said surging with the power of the Hero's water

"You forget Shibuki I taught you everything you know no matter how powerful you get I'll still win" Suien taunted

"Let's see!" Shibuki said preparing his jutsu

"Waterfall style: Water Cutting sword" they both said as they made a sword out of water

Choji took on Kirisame while Shino assisted Fu on Hisame, The water whip was the main problem as they don't want the risk of getting caught again and being electrocuted especially while on water. Fu was using her wings to stay off the water just in case they tried to electrify the water. Shino was coming up with a plan to make this fight end faster as he can see that Shibuki is losing the kenjutsu duel.

"Choji can your human boulder work on water?" Shino asked his teammate

"Yeah but it takes more chakra to keep me afloat" Choji said

"And do you…" Shino said towards the girl not knowing what to call her

"The name's Fu" Fu introduced herself with a smile

"Do you Fu have a technique that can knock them out" Shino asked her

"Yeah but you two can't get near it only me" she said

"Alright Choji I'm going to cover you with my insects so you won't be electrocuted so I need you to hit these two together so Fu can use her technique" Shino instructed receiving nods in acceptance "Now execute"

And like he said Choji barreled into the Kirisame knocking him back towards land and as Choji turned trying to hit the other one she jumped but Shino's parasitic insects knocked her back down allowing Choji to hit her to Kirisame. And when they were together Fu swooped in to use her technique

"Scale powder: suffocation!" Fu said expelling a moderate amount of a strange looking powder from her mouth

Choji and Shino came over curious on what was going on

"The powder surrounds them and it gets rid of any oxygen in the powders area and since they're still dazed they can't move out of it they should pass out soon" Fu explained for Shino and Choji

"Cool" Choji said as Shino nodded but was focusing on Suien vs Shibuki

Suien had the upper hand but whenever he would go for the finishing blow Naruto would throw a kunai to stop him which only infuriated Suien more however even though Suien was getting sloppy Shibuki was getting tired from the Hero's Water

"Even though his strength increase tremendously his body isn't used to dealing with that much chakra making him exhausted" Sakura said observing Shibuki's body language

"I need to help him" Naruto said as he started to get up

"No you are still injured, you heal slightly faster but that doesn't mean you can fight yet" Sakura said sitting him back down

"Shino!" Naruto shouted towards Shino "You, Choji, and bug-wing girl need to help Shibuki"

"Understood let's go!" Shino said as the three headed towards Shibuki

Suien when Shibuki was at the end of his energy took the Hero's water from his shirt

"Finally!" Suien said as he chugged the water "Now let's get to work!"

Suien blitzed Fu knocking her back into the tree, Choji saw this and used his partial expansion jutsu to grow his foot so he can kick him, but Suien grabbed the foot and threw him towards the village buildingsm Shino sent his insects but Suien used his water dragon jutsu to blow back the insects and Shino towards the huge tree

"This power is incredible!" Suien boasted

"This is bad" Sakura said as she helped Naruto to stand

"We need to get that water back and stop him in one blow" Naruto said to Sakura and Shibuki

"What's the plan?" Shibuki said

Naruto explained his gameplan to the two who nodded in acceptance, Naruto charged Suien with Shibuki, Suien was overconfident as he was not showing any attention of defending himself against the weakened Suien and the slow moving Naruto

"Give me all you got!" Suien taunted

And in unreal burst of speed with wind blowing all around, Naruto tackled Suien and in an instant they were both in front of Sakura

"How?!" Suien started to say

But in a flash Naruto teleported back to Shibuki and Sakura launched her fist

"Cha!" Sakura yelled as she slammed her fist into Suien's body

It wasn't long until Suien lost consciousness from Sakura's punch

"How did you know that she could knock her out in one punch?" Shibuki asked Naruto

"Man if she is even a quarter as strong as my aunt Tsunade then she can knock anyone out that isn't a Kage if she gets a clean hit in" Naruto said as he sees Choji, Shino, and Fu rejoin them

"You all were incredible the way you did the _phoosh_ and _ting_ and _bam_ " Fu said making sound effects to describe the fight

"Hehehe we just had good teachers" Choji said

"I wish I had a teacher like that" Fu said

"Yeah Sakura's only a genin and she can beat me any day of the week" Naruto says

"Shut up you know you're literally the one person no one can beat even the jonin talk about you're unbelievable" Sakura said

"What was that wind jutsu you just used you seemed to move faster than I ever seen you move?" Shino asked Naruto

"Just a new wind style jutsu I've been working on" Naruto said not giving details

They talked for a few minutes as they were taking care of the enemies. And as they were doing that Shibuki couldn't help but think about the treaty that the Hokage had proposed after he suggested using their shinobi resources. He had a clear example of the products of what a little more than one year out of the academy can do as Naruto and Shino became chunin awhile ago, and a genin was the one who did the finishing blow on their jonin enemy.

"Hey Shino tell your Hokage that I'm willing to talk about our alliance again" Shibuki said

"Very well" Shino said as Fu put her arm around him and Naruto

"We're going to be such good friends!" Fu said with excitement


End file.
